


Simply Beth

by PeachyLana



Category: The Walking Dead, Walking Dead, Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Dom/sub Undertones, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-21
Updated: 2013-06-15
Packaged: 2017-12-06 00:42:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 52,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/729713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeachyLana/pseuds/PeachyLana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's more to Beth Greene than most people realize.  An unexpected friendship turns to something more. And it started out so innocently....</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Apologies for the weird writing style, and I obviously own nothing. I just decided to randomly post this after the idea sprung to my head. Most of this was written while drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Planning on going from T to M here, so if you hate the idea of these two then probably shouldn’t read it. Also, I know the timelines are a bit messed up since they’re at the prison and Merle is there, but no governor stuff going down yet. Just saw a terrible spoiler for the end of season 3…so sad. I have more of story; it’s not complete, just seeing if anyone was even interested in it. I’m not a writer, so I already know the tense and narrative is constantly changing (again, drinking!).

Beth Greene never would have thought she’d have no idea how old she was. She guessed it was June or July based on the heat, but in Georgia you never really did know. Not that she didn’t care too much anyway; it wasn’t like it mattered much anymore. Maybe at the farm she would have gotten a cake for her birthday, but not at the prison, they didn’t have the luxury at the farm her father worked so hard to give them during the hard times. 

She remembered her birthday being on one of those sweltering days, because they never had air conditioning at the farm, and yes, that was still luxurious especially nowadays. But she would never complain, of course not. Was she going to complain to her dear father, who lost his wife, his eldest daughter, his farm and his leg? So she forced a smile every now and then especially around him and her big sister Maggie so not to worry them. After you try to kill yourself people just don’t look at you the same anymore. And she knew that they thought she’d try it again if she appeared as depressed as she was. But Beth gave that up, after everything that happened she couldn’t do that to the family she had left, and the poor baby whose mother was dead and was being passed around to whoever would hold it.   
Beth was also the first to realize how lucky she was to have not only her blood family with her but the others that came across the farm too. Rick’s son Carl always tried to cheer her up when he caught her staring off in sitting on her bunk in the dark prison. He urged her to get up and get outside to go on checks around the perimeter, which was awfully sweet of him. It got her out of the dark at least into some fresh air, depending on how many walkers were nearby.

Walking beside him she suddenly became aware him that he was about her height, and had no idea when that happened. That led her questioning how much time had passed. How old was Carl, and how old was she? 

“Hey Carl, can you give us a hand?” Glenn shouted from back at the prison entrance.

“Sure thing,” Carl glanced at her. “You’re armed?” Just like his dad, checking on everyone.

She touched the gun in her back waistband, “Yep, I’ll be fine,” and watched him head back up, squinting hard in the bright sunlight. She really should go outside more and shielded her eyes with her hand, quite sure her pale skin was reflecting the sunlight badly enough it could attract walkers. But it was a nice day so she wandered down toward the fence, and saw Daryl’s bike.  
Beth smiled walking up to it; she wanted so badly to ride on the back of it sometime. It looked like fun, and she closed her eyes with a sigh imagining the wind in her hair on a beautiful Georgia day. She glanced around checking for the owner before walking up closer. She was too scared to ever ask, he was one of the most intimidating men she had ever met even though she had seen first-hand that he was a good, kind person. 

Swinging a leg over the bike and settling down to take a seat she sprung back up with a yelp. The black seat in the sun burned her thighs. “Ow, ow,” she muttered aloud, rubbing her legs, and then sitting much more carefully down on the bike adjusting her shorts. “How the hell does he ride this thing?” She giggled unable to even reach the handlebars comfortably. It was then Beth wondered where he was, she didn’t see him inside earlier. Maybe out hunting, they were really lucky to have someone so good at that sort of thing. But then she felt jealous of his ability to just be able to go off on his own. It would be nice to just take a break from the prison even if it was just to hunt. And they never even considered her to go on runs. It was always, “Beth watch the baby. Beth help cook dinner,” not that she minded doing those sorts of things, but all the time? 

She unconsciously scratched her nail against the leather of the seat, contemplating how they would never let her go; because they didn’t think she could handle herself. Maybe that was the case a few years ago, but then she curled her lip into almost a snarl. “But Carl can, can’t he,” she felt her good mood quickly slipping away. They’d say he’s hardened because he had to shoot his mom, while not only was her mother dead, but she watched her oldest sister get torn apart while grasping on to her to help. There was a lump in her throat and she was glaring out into the grass and woods, and then finally let out a shaky breath that she didn’t know she was holding. 

“Knife would work better for that sort of thing,” She jumped at the familiar voice with the backwoods drawl, looking down and noticing she made a large scratch in the seat, digging at it while she reminisced. 

“Shit!” She cursed before she could think, caught being on the bike was bad enough, but she also defaced it. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to.” She immediately swung her leg over to get off the bike, and stumbled in her hurry. Daryl caught her by the shoulders heaving her back upwards like a sack of potatoes before she fell on her face.

“Damn girl,” he said giving her a quick glance over to see if she was okay before he let go of her. 

She felt her face burning in embarrassment, the damage of his bike forgotten and replaced with the damage to her pride. She was also holding her breath again, and tried to get a hold of herself with a deep inhale. She looked up into his intense blue eyes and felt helpless, not even knowing what to say.

“I didn’t even know I was doing it, I was just thinkin’ about stuff.”

“Stuff?” He asked, shouldering the crossbow that got disheveled in catching her. “Not gonna lie, but Beth Greene is the last person I’d expect vandalizin’ my things.”

Daryl saw her big blue eyes widen more in panic and quickly calmed her down, “I’m just joking. That bike’s seen way worse anyway, you can see it ain’t in mint condition. I’ve had more than one spill on it.” For some reason the thought of Daryl Dixon falling off his motorcycle made her smile. “Think that’s funny, Blondie?” He asked with a hint of a smirk. 

She shook her head forcing it back, and failing miserably. “No sir,” it felt weird saying that, but being brought up that way it was almost unconscious when speaking to people older than herself. This had to be the most she had ever spoken to him ever. “Going hunting?” She asked looking at the crossbow, then winced at her realization, “that was a stupid question.” Why was she feeling so weird with him? She certainly didn’t get all embarrassed, nervous and choked up around Glenn and not too bad with Rick when she rarely spoke to him.

“You feelin’ okay?” He asked narrowing his eyes a bit, as if trying to figure out what was off.

“Yeah, I’m just fine!” She said a little too loudly, and suddenly wanted the ground to just swallow her whole. “Ahem, I mean I’m fine,” she said again, in a much more calm and controlled manner, not that it mattered when you just repeated yourself. ‘Act cool, damn it!’ She shouted at herself, trying to straighten her slumped shoulders and pushed some pieces of blonde hair out of her face. ‘No wonder everyone treats you like a kid.’ “Maybe,” oh god what was she doing? “You can take me some time? Or, um, go on a ride? I mean whenever, not like now, but just to get out of here once in a…while” she trailed off and almost made a face like she was anticipating getting slapped.

Daryl almost laughed in her face, but couldn’t do that to the kid, not when she looked so damn hopeful. There was no way in hell Hershel would let his baby girl beyond the fence. And if Daryl let her do it, he was sure the old man would kick his ass, one leg or not.

“Tell ya what, you get your daddy to say yes, and I’ll think about it,” he said watching her slowly look back at him again. He was curious why she wanted to go anywhere with him if she was as scared of him as she was acting. And to his utter shock he saw a flash of anger in her blue eyes. That cherubic face of hers was thinning out and he suddenly didn’t recognize the woman before him.

“Ask my daddy? Am I gonna have to do that forever? Why can’t it be my decision?” She said without nerves or a shaky voice. “I’m pretty sure I’m old enough now. If Maggie and Carl have a choice then why don’t I? Is it really because Maggie has Glenn and Carl is a boy?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Daryl said bluntly, not about to mince words when the obvious was stated. “I never said it was right, but it’s how it is now.” She looked absolutely crestfallen, and almost hopeless, and losing that fire in her eye that he was now intrigued about. “Look here,” he said getting her eyes back to his. “I sure as shit wouldn’t want to be locked up all day neither, but you ain’t going nowhere without permission. Why don’t you talk to him first.” 

She was silent for a second, “Fine,” she said softly, seeming to have calmed herself down.

“Good, now get your ass back inside. You’re already burning, as pale as you are you should know better,” he said with authority. “I mean good lord girl, at least wear a hat.” Beth was a little shocked then realized he really meant for her to get going. “Did you hear me?”

“Y..yes,” she answered a little taken aback and blushing, but hoped her sunburned face hid that.

“I’m sorry I didn’t hear that right,” he said looking her down, but slightly with a teasing look in his eyes that she’d never really seen before.

“Yes, sir,” she said quickly turning to hide her smile, and grinned her entire way back up the hill.


	2. Chapter 2

Ch2.

 

“Beth you’re certainly in a good mood,” Maggie squeezed her sister’s shoulder. The older girl loved seeing her little sister smiling so broadly; it had been so long since she saw that shine in her eyes. Beth was humming to herself as she relieved Carol from Judith, and carried the baby around, with an extra bounce in her step.

“Mmmhmm,” she even sang a little softly to the baby. It was surprisingly nice talking to Daryl and being somewhat honest for once. Her bright mood unbeknownst to her, affected everyone positively. Singing to herself and walking along the catwalk dancing with the baby made Rick smile and shake his head.   
“What put her in such a good mood?” He asked. 

Glenn shrugged his shoulders. “No idea, she just came in from outside.”

Her mood stayed great until she overheard Carol talking to Maggie about how good she was with the baby. “She’d make a good mom,” Carol said with a smile.

A good mom? She entertained that thought once, but began losing it after everything happened, and definitely after caring for Judith. She saw first-hand the fear and worry of having a child in this world by just watching Carol and Lori. And then there was the question of who would father this baby. Unless they fell upon some other younger men the group would approve of, what were her options? She made a face, inadvertently making the baby laugh. She didn’t want to think about it.   
Beth was brought up in a traditional household, so she always thought she’d be married and have a couple kids in life, at least back when things were normal. The fact that she may not marry or have children now wasn’t as depressing as she thought it would be. There was something else she was more worried about, and sure it was probably due to her hormones getting in gear, but she couldn’t phantom the thought of never having sex again. Yes, again. She did have sex once. It was safe, and with Jimmy, but not great. That experience did sound too much unlike what she had heard from other girls about their first time. But it wasn’t like she was the only one missing out on a good time now. Everyone was in the same boat as much as she really didn’t want to think about it. Well, everyone except for Maggie and Glen, as far as she knew. Beth was actually thinking about changing the cell she slept in, because while she loved her sister dearly, she could not handle listen to them trying to be quiet while they had fun.

She carried the baby back downstairs to the others. “We’re running low on clothes for her,” Carol said looking at the baby as she rocked her gently. “She’s growing so fast, she isn’t going to be able to fit into anything soon. Next time someone goes on a run, keep that in mind.”

“Should probably do it sooner than later,” Michonne said glancing from the window with her arms crossed. Michonne awed Beth so much that she didn’t consider her fallible like the others. Michonne and Daryl should be able to take care of any threat; they were some sort of super team. Now she got sidetracked of what an epic story that duo could make. ‘They might be the only ones alive at the end of this,’ she thought somewhat sourly. Michonne interrupted her musing, “Don’t know how much longer this good weather is gonna last.”

“I don’t know if I’d call 95 degrees and 80 percent humidity good weather,” Glenn said shifting uncomfortably in his sweat-soaked clothes. “Well, I’m assuming that’s the temperature.”

“When the rain comes we’re gonna have some bad storms,” Beth decided to chime in herself. “But the prison is safe enough from tornadoes, I’d think.” It was a comforting thought, especially when she had an embarrassing fear of storms. Nobody needed to know the story of her hiding in the storm cellar during some harmless heat lightning just a couple years ago. 

“Could use the rain, actually,” Maggie piped up, “if we’re ever going to grow anything.” Maggie reached over and gave Glenn’s hand a squeeze. Beth was a bit jealous of her sister. Not only was she gorgeous she at least had the option to hold someone while she slept, she wasn’t alone. Beth hated herself for thinking like that.  
“And need the water to drink,” Hershel added. Beth was agonizing when to talk to him about going out. She could just lie and tell Daryl it was okay. ‘No,’ she shook the idea away, she couldn’t do that. This wasn’t as harmless as sneaking out to meet a boy on a school night, or drinking some of Otis’s hidden stash of liquor. A drink sounded really good right now, she could use it to dig up some strength to talk straight with him.

So she waited until after dinner to approach him alone in his cell. “Daddy, do you think I could talk to you a moment?” She hated how she sounded so meek, but this was her father who did and would do anything for his family.

He looked up at her and smiled. He looked even older with the white beard. “Of course,” he patted the cot beside him. She gave him a soft smile and took the seat beside him. “Somethin’ on your mind?” 

Of course he’d know something was up, he was her dad. “I was wondering,” she started out almost with a whisper. “Since the baby needs some new clothes, do you think, or would you let me go out with the others to get them?” She was looking at the ground afraid to see his horrified face. Was this the same afraid reaction she gave Daryl asking him to go for a ride?

But she heard a chuckle and a hand on her shoulder making her look back up at him. Hershel had a sad smile on his face, and now Beth instantly felt bad asking in the first place. “Beth, I’ve been wondering when you’d need to break out of here.”

“Wait, what?” She blurted out confused, halting the wringing of her hands. He wasn’t upset at her asking?

“I can’t keep you here like one of the inmates. This is our home, not a prison,” he chuckled again, at the bad joke. “You’re growing up. I think you’re birthday is any day now. Hard to keep track nowadays, but you’re a grown woman, as much as I want you to be my little girl. And,” his voice dropped a little with some sadness and regret. “The way the world is now, you have to grow up pretty fast anyway. If something happens, I want to know that you can make it out there.”

“Nothing’s going to happen,” she said confidently grasping his hand. If anything were to happen she prayed she didn’t go first. She didn’t want to see her dad die, but couldn’t stand the thought of him dealing with her or Maggie’s death. She felt tears welling up in her eyes, and bit her lower lip trying to stay strong, because crying wasn’t going to help anything. The sudden memory of her attempt at her own life bit at her, and how it would have affected him and Maggie. 

“I know you won’t disappoint me, Beth. I trust your decisions, but ultimately it’s up to Rick and the others. You’re inexperienced and that means a liability,” Hershel was trying to be honest with her, but not crush her at the same time.

But she smiled at him, “I know, but I can deal with them.” She gave his hand one last squeeze. “Goodnight, I love you.”

“Love you too.”

She felt a huge boost of confidence, if her dad thought she could do it then she could. And Rick trusted her father’s judgment, didn’t he? So when she settled down on her cot she was unable to sleep, her mind raced, and she wasn’t tired. Beth sighed heavily, now hearing and blocking out the noises of Maggie and Glenn. She wished she had the nerve to go to Daryl’s cell, since he refused to sleep there. She remembered him saying he wouldn’t sleep in a cage, but there was the problem that it was inhabited by his brother Merle. And she still vividly remembered meeting the older Dixon brother. The first time Merle saw her, he made some sort of comment, but she was too far away to hear. But Daryl grabbed Merle and heated words were exchanged. It was that memory she eventually fell asleep to, wondering just what Daryl said.

Beth woke up suddenly in a panic, which nearly everyone did nowadays. Another nightmare, but she couldn’t harp on it long, because during their sparse breakfast, Rick was told that Judith needed new clothes soon.

Now was the time. She just had to do it. “I can go, Rick,” she said quickly before he could assign roles, anyone else volunteered, or she chickened out.

Glenn did what Daryl knew better not to do yesterday, laugh aloud. “Beth, that’s sweet of you and all, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

She was pissed, and hurt. Really, laugh in her face? 

“Why not?” Daryl asked in his straight low voice, now garnering the room’s attention. Which he seemed good at doing.

Rick gave him a strange look, “You serious?” Rick’s tone was more questioning than incredulous. Beth felt her heart jump. He was sticking up for her? But Daryl’s eyes never once looked at her.

“’Bout time she got out of here. Everyone needs to learn to pull their weight,” he said shrugging his shoulders. Okay, that was kind of an insult, but whatever, she’d take it.

“Beth pulls her weight, Daryl,” Carol said defensively, then looked to the girl. “You don’t need to prove anything by going out there.”

Carol was so sweet, she really liked her. “It’s fine, I really do want to go.”   
“Hershel, what do you think about this?” Rick asked warily.

“It’s her decision, Rick. It’s up to you now,” he answered with a small smile and gave Beth a nod of his head. 

Rick rubbed his stubbled face and let out a heavy breath. “Jesus, Beth. I just wouldn’t forgive myself if something happened to you out there.” Beth did notice that her sister was completely silent on the matter, not chiming in her favor once. ‘Thanks, sis…’ “Maybe next time.”

She wanted to scream and curse, but kept herself calm as anger rushed through her limbs, making it hard to even stand still. “Please, Rick.” She did her best not to sound pathetic or let the tremble seep into her voice.

“Christ, just let her go. She can go with me. Don’t got all day for this shit,” Daryl said annoyed, running a hand through his dirty blonde hair before grabbing his bag and leaving the room. Conversation over.

Rick sighed irritably, “Daryl, if anything happens this is on you now!” He called after him, while Beth silently stood there wanting to chase him down and hug him. Carol shook her head and gave a small sigh going after him instead. 

“You really think that was good idea?” Carol asked crossing her arms, and looking at the man restlessly sharpening his knife.

Daryl stood up and straightened his shoulders. “She wants to go,” he said pointing the knife down the hall with exasperation. “So let her go. What the hell is the problem?”

“She’s a kid.” 

He made a noise, laughing with a condescending sneer, “You serious? You think that makes a difference now? I was learning this shit at half her age.”

“She’s not like you. She’s never done any of this.” Daryl grinded his teeth at her words, glaring at the wall for a second before just having it out. 

“Yeah, cause everyone babies her,” he said raising his voice with irritation. He shook his head, giving Carol the look like she didn’t know anything with some disappointment thrown in for good measure. Reeling in the growing anger, he leaned against the cell door looking down the hall. “She ain’t made of glass, she ain’t just gonna break. We lived in the damn woods for nine months and she was just fine. So let her learn how to get by, ‘cause all of us ain’t goin’ to make it. And if you think keepin’ her here all day is going to help you’re wrong.” 

Carol pursed her lips. She trusted Daryl and his judgment more than anyone else. She still didn’t like any of it. Part of her wondered if he’d do the same for Sophia if she was alive. She smiled softly to herself, knowing the answer would be yes. 

“We done here?”

“Daryl?” Maggie’s voice came up the stairs. “We need to talk.” Carol gave him a small smirk and smartly left.   
He never so quickly regretted a decision.


	3. Chapter 3

Beth never gave much thought to how she looked in a long time. Dirt and grime had become best friends with her skin and clothes. It had become such an everyday thing she didn’t even think about it anymore, and it wasn’t like there were mirrors around. So glancing at her reflection from the glare of a filthy window was shocking. She grimaced at her unsightly appearance. Her hair was constantly up, since it was getting too stringy and greasy to keep down. The color had turned from a light honey blond to a lovely dirty dishwater color. She actually thought about cutting it. ‘At least it would be more comfortable in the summer.’ She frowned at the dark circles under her eyes, appearing even more dramatic against her ghostly pale skin. “I look like roadkill,” she groaned rubbing her eyes with the heels of her palms, wishing she had some cover-up again. ‘Why wish for that? So Merle can stare some more?’ She stuck out her tongue at the thought, “Eeww.”  
“Hey."

His voice caught her off guard. Beth turned, blinking hard. She rubbed her eyes with so much pressure she was seeing spots. But there was no mistaking that voice. “Daryl,” she said trying to play it off with a sweet smile and a hand on her hip, but still couldn’t actually tell where he was yet. She squinted barely making him out in the dim light of the prison as her eyes slowly fixed, and turned to face him correctly. She was pretty sure he was giving her a weird look. 

Daryl was giving her a weird look. “You ready to go? Need all the sunlight we got.”

“Yeah, I’m good.” Finally, her vision came back fully. 

His eyes lowered down her body for a second before going back to her eyes. ‘Did he just look me over?’ For a second, a breath caught in her throat.   
“I’d put on some pants if I was you.” 

‘Oh.’ Beth looked down at her too short shorts, “Yeah…Um I’ll jus’ take a second,” she blurted out and ran by him back to her cell.   
“I’ll be outside, you take longer than five minutes I’m leavin’ you behind,” he called after her. 

‘What the hell were you thinkin’? Why not wear flip flops too?’ She hopped into a pair of loose cargo pants, and boots. Hating the heat, but trying to be appropriate, she threw a loose button up blouse, undone on over her small dirt-stained camisole. ‘God, was I actually disappointed he wasn’t lookin’ me over?’ She grabbed Maggie’s large messenger bag for whatever they found, and rushed back outside. He leaned against the fence, the motorcycle already started. She felt giddy; ‘I get to ride it!’

Daryl found it amusing watching her approach. She looked timid at first, but after a second, she picked up her pace and smiled. She still had that youthful, carefree bounce in her step that he was sure he never had. It just reminded him how severely lacking she was with survival skills. ‘Poor thing would get eaten alive in ten minutes if she was out on her own.’ He was pretty sure nothing came of Rick’s one shooting lesson at the farm. 

Beth really hoped she didn’t inconvenience him too badly, and that he’d go easy on her. She took the opportunity to see if she could gauge his mood. He reminded her of the stereotypical bad boy from any movie or tv show. He had his arms crossed wearing a usual sleeveless shirt, but gave her a look pushing himself off the fence walking towards her. ‘Geez, what did I do wrong now?’ 

“Forgetting something?” He walked up so close to her she almost involuntarily took a step back. 

‘I’m beginnin’ to think you like starin’ me down,’ was what she wanted to say, but bailed out at the last minute. Beth looked around and down at her legs and feet, and everything checked out okay to her. ‘Is this some sort of test?’ “Um, what?” She tilted her head questioningly as she looked up at him. 

The doe-eyed look she gave him almost made him lose his straight-face, but Daryl let out an exasperated breath, and uncrossed his arms.   
Beth saw something in his hand, but he moved to quickly for her to figure out what it was. His hand came down not very softly on her head. “Ow,” she reached up confirming what she thought he just he did. He shoved a hat on her head. 

“Thought I told you last time to wear a hat.”

“Din’nit have one,” she said still pouting a little for his unnecessary roughness, and pulled her ponytail through the back of the worn baseball cap. The worst part of her southern accent came out around him. 

“Now you do,” he said getting on the bike. 

“Thanks,” she muttered and carefully got on behind him. She gave herself as much distance as possible between them. 

“You good?” He asked with amusement in his voice.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“Allllright,” the way he said that made her raise an eyebrow. ‘What now?’ He put the bike in gear as Glenn opened he gate. She grit her teeth as soon as she saw the milling about walkers start to come their way. There was really nothing to protect them. As soon as he accelerated she grasped the back of his shirt with a yelp, nearly falling off the back. 

“Hey, that’s not funny!” She shouted over the loud engine. He wasn’t being very nice at all. It also didn’t help that the bumps on the torn up roads, nearly bounced her off her seat as well. It was difficult to keep her distance when she kept sliding up against him. Finally, she stopped worrying about all that. Determined to enjoy the outdoors around her, she relaxed. Smiling now and feeling the wind on her face, the bumps didn’t startle her anymore. She realized her hand was resting on his shoulder, and surprisingly didn’t feel too weird about it. She looked back around again, a bright blue sky, and beautiful Georgia scenery. Not a walker in sight. ‘You could almost forget.’ She unconsciously squeezed his arm, not noticing she even moved her hand. She was looking the opposite direction when he glanced at her quickly over his shoulder. 

She heard of the small town there were heading to, just a small strip mall close to the edge of town. Daryl pulled around to the side of the building and killed the engine; she stretched a little bit as she got off the bike, careful not to stumble this time.

“That your first time?” He asked, although obviously knowing her answer. For a moment after he first accelerated, he thought she really was going to fall off the back. ‘That was a fuckin’ stupid move, Dixon,’ 

“Yeah, was great. Prob’ly going to be sore, not used to spreadin’ my legs like that.” She slapped a hand over her mouth as words left her mouth, then burst out laughing. “I didn’t mean it like that! Oh…geez. ” She was embarrassed, but it was pretty damn funny. Sometimes you just had to laugh those things off. 

He coughed and she wasn’t sure if he was hiding a laugh, or just uncomfortable with the entire exchange. So she decided to just pretend it never happened, ‘Oh well. Not the time for jokes anyway.’ They had business to get down to, so she looked around to just get read of where they were.

“Alright, this is important,” Daryl began as he was getting his crossbow set. He was trying to focus on the task and not her little comment. “There are rules you gotta follow.” Beth gave him a glance and nodded, but her eyes wandered off to read the shop signs. 

She was taken aback when Daryl grasped her chin, and turned her face back to him. “I’m not fucking around, kid,” he was leaning down with his eyes narrow and serious. She swallowed hard. “You listenin’ now?” Technically she was listening before, but wasn’t going to argue, and nodded instead wide-eyed. “Good, ‘cause I want you in my line of vision at all times. You see somethin’ don’t shout or scream, get my attention as quietly as you can.”

“Yes’sir,” she said softly and he let go of her face quickly; just as surprised at his actions as her. He straightened his body, at least now he had her attention.   
“You have anythin’ else ‘sides that gun in your belt?”

She felt around making sure it was still there and shook her head. “It’s all I got.”

“Always need somethin’ else and it’s got to be quiet. A knife would work, doubt you could handle a bat,” he said looking at her arms. He looked slightly disappointed by her physique. “Use that thing only if you have to, the noise will just attract attention.”

“Maybe I’ll ask for somethin’ like that for a birthday present,” she said, not even noticing a walker slowly staggering towards them. “It’s sometime close to now, I think. I’d hate to ask daddy for it, but it’s not like it’s something foolish-”

‘I’m sure it’ll do you a lot of good,’ he thought sarcastically, and wondering if he should wait until the walker got closer to really freak her out or do it now. ‘Nah, can’t be mean to her like that.’ So while she was trying to figure out whether she was seventeen or eighteen or something, he raised the crossbow shooting the arrow right by her. She jumped with a squeak, and spun around.

“Didn’t even know it was there!” She exclaimed, grasping her chest, feeling her heart beating far too fast to be healthy. She looked from the downed walker, back up to Daryl. He didn’t even flinch and he saw it the whole time. 

“Remember when I said noise attracts attention?” He said opening the front door of the store and looking in before motioning for her to go inside. She still had a hand on her chest, calming herself back down and took a breath. 

“Like ridin’ a loud motorcycle doesn’t attract attention,” she muttered walking by him.

“What was that?” He heard her perfectly, ‘The little smart-ass’. She knew better than to look back at him, but that also meant she missed seeing the smirk on his face. 

“Nothin’,” she said innocently. ‘Oh, you back-talked him!’ And she really liked it. 

Daryl went through the aisles first, arrow ready, and once it was all deemed safe enough she could get to scavenging. It was terrifying and thrilling at the same time. Beth didn’t understand how he had no fear. Her hands were clammy and shaking, not just terrified for herself, but also for him. She was sure he’d find that thought laughable. 

“Well, get to lookin’,” he said turning away from her and running his arm across his brow. It was sweltering outside and even steamier inside; they were both covered with a sheen of sweat.

She was nervous just being more than three feet away from him, but she had a job to do. It was a smaller boutique store; since it was pretty much understood the smaller the place the better. She wondered how many people died figuring that out while trying to loot the Super Walmart. She wasn’t even sure the place they were in even carried baby clothing. 

“Anythin’ here?” He asked checking the door again while rotating his sore shoulder. 

“Umm, wait. Oh, think I found somethin’,” she looked over at him and gave him a double thumbs up and a big smile. Maybe it was the adrenaline making her act goofier than she had in a long time. He only shook his head in response, and looked back to the door, muttering something under his breath. ‘No fun,’ she noted with a sigh, and opened her bag grabbing a bunch of tiny clothes. She was smart enough the take the larger sizes too, knowing how fast Judith was growing. She felt energized and like she drank a whole pot of coffee. It felt so good to do something for them back at home. ‘I’m providing!’ It felt so damn fulfilling. There was still space in her bag, so without thinking, she looked through the racks to the section over and crept over there. ‘Maggie needs stuff too, and Carol, and ooh makeup!’ She only ever stole some gum from the corner market as a child and cried with guilt for days over it. Now she was shoveling things into her bag, with no regard at all.

Seeing all of this stuff just made her deep underlying resentment for Rick and his group resurface. It was something she tried to bury in her mind, but knowing how well they had it at that farm until they showed up, it tore her apart sometimes. And now she was like a desperate junkie, just lucky to get whatever scraps she could get her hands on. 

It took all Daryl had not to shout out a curse when he turned back and saw Beth was gone. “Beth,” he hissed loudly looking around. “Goddamn it,” he growled.

Fully enveloped in her kleptomaniac episode, she had no realization what she was doing until she brushed away a stray hair in her face. Her fingers hit the bill of her cap, and she suddenly remembered where she was. “Oh shit,” she jumped straight up from pillaging and raced back to where she was supposed to be. ‘Oh God, he’s gonna kill me.’ She sharply turned the corner of an aisle and nearly ran face-first into an arrow. Daryl grasped her arm tightly, pulling her enough to the side to miss it, and lowered the crossbow. 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” He was pissed; if looks could kill she’d be as dead as the walker outside. She wasn’t sure she had seen him like this. “Did you not listen to a damn word I said? You beg to come out here and just traipse around like an idiot?”

“I’m sorry I’m so, so sorry,” but Daryl didn’t look affected. “I got a little overwhelmed.” ‘Traipse?’ “I know I’ve been acting not myself lately-“

“I don’t know what ‘yourself’ even is,” he said bluntly. “Barely know you, Girl” he was looking over her as if she was a stranger. He released her, and she unconsciously rubbed the spot.

“We’ve all been together for over a year. You lived in my backyard.” She was insulted, but not sure why. It’s not like she did anything to get to know him. But that deep welling anger was seeping to the surface, even though she knew it was wrong to leave his sight. “I’m not reckless like this. It’s not me. I’d never want to mess this up,” she grasped his arm for emphasis. “I’m really sorry.” 

“Sorry ain’t gonna cut it when I have to explain to your dad an’ sister that you’re dead.” He pulled his arm back, out of her grip. “You couldn’t follow the one goddamn rule I gave you. If you ever want to get out of that prison again, you’ll listen an’ do what I say. This ain’t a game.”

Beth snapped, ‘How dare he?’ “I know this ain’t a game!” She yelled. He had to slam her against the wall with his hand over to mouth to stifle her. She fought against him still shouting at him between his fingers. “My home, momma, my sister, Otis, what happened to daddy, and Jimmy! It’s because of y-,” she was finally muffled, now trying to pry him off her face. She wanted to bite him as his dirty hand pressed harder against her lips the more she struggled.

Realizing he apparently unleashed some sort of irrational outburst, he had to diffuse the situation as quickly as possible. “Alright, hush, okay, just calm   
down,” he had to keep her quiet, but her acting like a trapped wild animal, prevented that. ‘Shit!’ She was going to claw his skin and shirt off if he didn’t do something. “Elizabeth!” He finally growled, grasping her as tightly as he could without hurting her. She suddenly stilled. He knew calling her that name had the potential for some memories to resurface. What he also didn’t need was her to go into hysterics. Not that all women did that, but she was a very young hormonal woman, and he just had that hunch. 

‘Elizabeth.’ It was what her momma called her when she was really angry. Her eyes teared up and went limp against him and the wall, and closed her tightly as she began to loudly cry. “Come on, girl. It’s okay,” he said taking his hand off her mouth and doing the only thing he could think of to calm her down. Daryl pulled her to his chest, unsure if she’d even allow it or even strike out at him. He didn’t expect her hands to grasp tightly onto the back of his shirt, while she sobbed into his chest. All he could do was helplessly pat her back. Why did he volunteer for this? Since when was he the person to offer up taking inexperienced teenage girls out on a run for the first time?

‘Pull it together, Beth,’ she tried to coach herself, but she didn’t want to let go of him. There was so much constantly swirling in her brain, she always felt like she was on the verge of breaking down. But right now she felt brief relief. The tighter she held him the better she felt. Closing her eyes with her head pressed against him, she could for one second, forget it all. And that was what exactly happened once his scent invaded her senses. He smelled strangely good, outdoorsy, a bit like gasoline and something just distinctly masculine that she couldn’t quite describe. ‘Well, I guess I’m done going on runs now.’ She reluctantly let him go, and wiped the tears from her eyes, sniffing as she did so. She had no excuse at all for just losing it like that. He didn’t deserve her shouting at him, no matter what repressed anger she had. 

Daryl’s hands grasped her shoulders, and she reluctantly looked up at him. Her eyes were red and puffy. “Beth, you’re gonna be fine. Ya hear me?” ‘She’s got some fight in her alright.’ He wiped some tear trails away with a thumb, leaning down to get eye level with her. He was being sincere, damn it, and wanted her to know it. She chewed her lower lip. “We good?” He asked and she nodded in response. “Alright, so…where the hell were we?” He asked straightening his back and taking a much need deep breath of relief.

“I got clothes for Judith. We can go,” she said quietly, but at least still meeting his eyes. He fixed the cap that got pushed half off the top of her head when she hugged him, and pulled the bill down just a bit harder than needed on purpose. She swatted his hand away, trying not to smile. 

Daryl eyed her bag. “Looks like you got a lot more than that. Anythin’ in there for me?” 

Beth couldn’t suppress the snort of a laugh that sneaked its way out. He didn’t have to make her feel better. In fact, she should still be getting chastised for leaving and shouting at him too. 

“Alright, come on we got one more stop to make,” he said turning and walking to the door. 

“Another stop? Where?” She was shocked he was going to take her anywhere but straight home.

“You’ll see,” he said over his shoulder. “Now move your ass.” 

‘Guess things are back to normal,’ she looked wistfully at his back following his lead. “Yes’sir.”


	4. Chapter 4

As they walked past the storefronts back to the bike, she was captivated by the strange confidence he exuded doing even the most mundane tasks. She was also impressed with how fluidly he handled his crossbow. Beth loved watching Daryl move. Case in point, when they rounded the corner, his arm swung back, palm pressing into her stomach. “Stay back.”

She went up on her tiptoes and stretched her neck to see over his shoulder, and instantly shrank back; a walker was creeping around the motorcycle. But instead of looking the walker, her eyes were drawn to his face, and how his eyes narrowed just a bit as he aimed. Then there was the intensity of his focus right before he pulled the trigger. Her leering was interrupted when something caught her eye out of her peripheral vision.

Daryl was beginning to pull the trigger when he felt a tap on his back. “Daryl?” He heard her whisper. 

“I know, I got it,” he answered simply without even glancing away from his target. A perfect headshot killed the one by his motorcycle, and he seamlessly lined up another bolt as he turned and re-killed other coming at them from the other side of the Beth. 

“You’re really good,” was all she could say. Quite the understatement.

He gave her a small smile, “Thanks.” He motioned to the downed walker closer to her. “Get that arrow for me will ya?” 

She hurried ahead without any hesitation. Daryl walked over to the walker by the bike and quickly yanked out the bolt before looking back over to Beth. As expected, her pace had slowed dramatically the closer she got. He set the arrow back and took a seat on the motorcycle, getting comfortable. ‘This should be entertainin’.’

Her dad was a vet, so Beth had seen plenty of gross things in her life, but she wasn’t used to slowly decomposing animated corpses. Kicking it with her boot lightly, she made sure it was indeed dead. “Okay, no big thing.” She talked herself up and grasped the end of the arrow, which was embedded right inside its eye. “Gross,” she hissed, and pulled. It barely moved. She knew she was making a face, and almost glanced up to see if Daryl was watching, but the smell was getting to her. She wanted this done now, and pulled hard. The entire head began to lift up, so she planted a foot down on its neck.

Daryl winced from his seat. “That’s not gonna be good.” But he had to admit to himself, watching the tiny girl wrestle the arrow out of that walker was pretty damn adorable. “Jesus, what the hell is wrong with me?” He rubbed his face with a sigh. 

She yanked the arrow out as her foot sank into the decomposing body. “Oh my god, I’m gonna be sick,” she tried to keep herself from thowing up, coughing and dry heaving into the crux of her arm, trying to shake the pieces and fluids of walker off her boot. She quickly got as far away as possible to take a deep breath of cleaner air. Looking at the arrow in her hand, there was still part of an eyeball attached. She looked over to Daryl. He was seated on the bike with his arms against the handlebars, leaning forward so he could rest his chin on his palm. Just watching.

She tried whipping the arrow around to get the eye off, but it wasn’t working as she walked back to him. “Was that for running off?” She asked huffing and still having a disgusted look on her face.

“Nah, that’s for talkin’ back to me earlier,” he said with a smirk, standing back up.

“Here,” she thrust it out to him. He looked at the extra piece of walker still on it, and raised an eyebrow. “I’m not touchin’ that,” she said as her voice rose in pitch.  
“Alright, alright, give it here. Not too bad, was it?”

“Ugh, I ain’t like the rest of you,” she said somewhat defeated, putting her hands on her knees bending over as if she was recuperating from a marathon. 

“Sure ya are. Takes time,” he said slightly squinting with the sun beating down on them.

“I ain’t ever gonna be a badass like you and Michonne.” ‘Oh, it felt weird sayin’ that.’ Daryl snickered, and ran his thumb thoughtfully over his bottom lip.  
“Badass, huh?”

Now she was glad the baseball cap kept the sun out of her eyes, and she could lower her head enough so he couldn’t see her red face. “Don’t we have somewhere else to go?” She asked quickly, and hopped on the back of the bike.

“Sure you don’t wanna stretch your legs first before round two?” He asked getting on in front of her, and starting the engine.

She opened her mouth then closed it. ‘Was that a callback to my blurt out before?’ She didn’t have a witty comment to throw back at him in response, but smiled behind him. ‘So at least I didn’t offend him before.’

It was a longer drive than she anticipated. Beth knew that they weren’t going anywhere near a town. He was taking her into the middle of nowhere and she had no idea why. ‘It’s not like he’s gonna to kill me or somethin’, she mused. But the thought lingered just a tiny bit longer before she shook it out of her head. Looking ahead she could see past the trees, and saw a beautiful little clearing. Pressing herself against his back, she thought she could make out some sort of stream or creek. 

Daryl turned his head slightly and was nearly blinded by the bill of her baseball cap, not expecting her face right over his shoulder. “What is this place?” She asked as soon as he turned off the bike.

“Found it a couple months ago. Nice place to just relax, and bathe,” he said simply.

‘Bathe?’ There was a word that sounded so amazing she could have kissed him. Before she could linger on that thought for too long she skipped to the water’s edge. It was so crystal clear she could see the smoothed stones of the bottom and dipped in her hand. The water was surprisingly chilly, and she grinned. She hated cold water, but she was going to love this. 

By the time she looked back over to him, Daryl pulled off his shirt, and she stared a bit lost even as he undid the belt of his pants. Now they dropped just slightly more, and was unable to turn her eyes away.

“Your momma teach you any manners, girl?” He wasn’t even looking at her, and he knew she was staring. 

“Of course! I just didn’t expect you to just strip in front of a lady,” she shot back, and turned around. “You ain’t gonna look, right?”

There was a splash in the water behind her. “Why would I do that?”

Beth clicked her tongue and gave an indignant huff. ‘Whatever.’ She lost a lot of modesty living in the woods for nearly a year before they found that prison. She could get over any weirdness it may cause as long as it meant she was getting in that water. Quickly stripping her hat, boots, pants, and blouse, she paused before taking off her thin camisole when she remembered she wasn’t wearing a bra. Going topless seemed a bit much, so she’d just deal with wet clothes later. She quickly got into the water, wading in enough to cover the purple and black polka dot panties she was wearing, not that she had a whole lot of underwear options.

Daryl, of course, didn’t look in her direction, at least gentlemanly enough to do that. She watched him dunk himself under then resurface and run his hand through his hair, slicking it back.

“You decent over there?” He asked.

“Yeah,” she almost added ‘duh’, but stopped herself. “You come here a lot?”

“Nah,” he turned to her and she felt a choked feeling in her throat. “Don’t want to waste the gas if I don’t got to.” He glanced behind him. “What’s the matter? You see somethin?” 

“N..No, sorry,” she said looking away, back at the water. ‘Oh my god, I think he’s hot!’ She took a deep breath and went completely under water. 

Daryl watched her disappear beneath the water’s surface, and pulled himself out onto the bank. He probably shouldn’t have stripped down to his boxers in the presence of a teenage girl, but he also wanted to at least rinse some of the grime off his body too. There was a nice large flat rock, just by the water’s edge that he laid down upon on his back. He propped himself up on his elbows looking out into the water waiting for her to at least resurface. 

When she finally popped up with a huge gasp he leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head. “’Bout time. Thought you drowned.”

Beth pushed her hair back and felt a little dizzy from going a bit too long without oxygen. Didn’t matter though. The air against her wet skin felt great. She looked around and saw Daryl lying out of the water.

“You done already?” She asked, with a hint of disappointment. 

“Just needed to rinse off, you can hang out if you want.”

“Hm. Thanks,” she said wading towards him.

“So,” he began, still lying down, but turning his head in her direction. “You wanna talk ‘bout it?”

Talk about what?” She asked wading over to where he was, and sinking back in up to her neck. 

“What that was all about back there.” She seemed to sink a little lower, water around her lips, and didn’t say anything. He could tell by the furrow of her brow that she was contemplating what to do. “You don’t got to, but I ain’t stupid. I know where you were going with that.”

She sighed and stood up fully; the water only came to her hips, and put her hands on the rock he was lying on, so at least they were eye level. “I don’t know how I feel about everythin’. Just sometimes I really blame everyone for what happened to us. I know Otis started the whole thing by shooting Carl, but,” she sighed. “If daddy fixed him up and just sent y’all on your way my family would still be there.” But now she couldn’t look him in the eye talking the way she was.

“We were fine. Then y’all showed up and everyday someone was hurt or shot or fightin’ each other. Our food and supplies were being sucked up and we went through all of the antibiotics daddy stashed up. You stayed on our property because of our hospitality and still couldn’t listen to the damn rules. Daddy said no guns ,but ya still didn’t listen. If it weren’t for Rick and Shane I’m pretty sure those walkers weren’t gonna come our way. Then everyone got killed and our home got destroyed.” She watched Daryl lean back up again. “And there’s Nellie too.”

“Nellie?” He heard that name before.

“My horse. Someone lost her.”

Daryl nearly choked on his own spit, as he sat back up fully. “Okay, but maybe a herd would have just come by a little later. You had no idea how many walkers were just outside your farm. But listen,” he ran a hand through his wet hair, and rested his arms on his bent knees. “I thought the same way back when I met Shane, Rick and the rest of ‘em. It seemed like trouble just followed these damn people around. But in the end, I’m better off ‘cause of them…some of ‘em at least. And the little girl we were lookin’ for, that I nearly killed myself lookin’ for was there the entire time.” Just saying that last part got him riled up again. “So it wasn’t just us. Nobody was perfect in that.” 

“I didn’t know the girl you were lookin’ for was in there,” she said looking him in the eye. “The only positive thing I see outta this is Maggie bein’ happy. But sometimes I can’t see it worth the lives of Patricia and Jimmy or Daddy’s leg.” She bit her bottom lip. “God, I must sound so ungrateful. You saved my life plenty of times.”

Daryl felt like he was punched in the gut again. “I’ve fucked up plenty of times.” All he could think of was screaming at Lori when she was asking him to bring back Hershel and Rick because Beth was in catatonic shock. “I’m sure your horse is fine, out there trampling walkers or somethin’.” 

“I knew it!” She backed up and splashed him in the face. “You lost her out there.”

“Hey, I’m sorry!” He said wiping the water from his eyes and face. “I borrowed her and I shouldn’t have.” He looked her over, the blond wet hair slicked back showed off her young pretty face, big blue eyes, and full pouty lips. “If it makes ya feel any better, she did almost kill me for it.” 

“Slightly,” she said crossing her arms. Of course it didn’t, and the way she narrowed her eyes, she was positive he knew she was joking.

“Thought you were the quiet, nice one,” he said giving her a sly smile. “But with all the vandalizin’, stealin’, cussin’ and back-talkin’, I think you may the bad one all along.” He was trying not to look her over too much, but it was hard to keep his eyes off her like that.

She really liked playing around with him. It was so fun to banter with someone. She actually could use a part of her brain that she was sure had been neglected for a long time. “That ain’t even half the list,” she said leaning in, trying to give her best bad-girl straight face she could muster. It didn’t help that she had to look at his face, which was making different kind of look creep into her eyes. 

Daryl paused for a minute before quickly turning away. “You ready to go soon?” He heard her huff.

“I was jus playin’ around.” That was half the truth; she did do some bad teenager things. ‘If ya can’t take it then don’t dish it out,’ she grumbled internally. The back and forth they sometimes gave each other made her stomach flip and her heart beat just a bit faster. ‘I think I really do like him.’ She waded back to the bank and stepped out of the water. 

“Mind if I dry off a bit first?”

‘Fuck,’ he’d just have to keep his eyes on the ground. “Yeah, sure,” he got up and let her take his spot in sun. She laid back and rested a hand over her eyes.  
“This was so nice. Thank you,” she said with a grin. There was no response so now she moved her arm and looked around. He was already wearing his pants again. His back was to her as he picked up his shirt. ‘He could at least keep that off.’ She had seen him shirtless before, back at the farm when she helped her dad with his wounds from when impaled himself on an arrow and shot by Andrea. The scars looked so terrible and obviously old that she couldn’t imagine who or why anyone would do that to him. She also definitely didn’t remember wanting him to keep his clothes off back then.

He looked back over to her, and she said nothing. She would never be that rude to pry about something like that. “How’d you not get your pants soaked through?” She decided to ask instead, but also unconsciously telling him where else her mind was focused.

“Easy, don’t wear anything wet underneath,” he paused, “duh.” Daryl knew she saw the scars on his back, but it wasn’t like it was some kind of secret.

She wasn’t going to show that she was affected that he wasn’t wearing anything underneath, but she was. ‘Well, wouldn’t anyone?’ But there was no denying she was having very strange thoughts about him. So she just may have kind of a crush on him. ‘Damn it. Why him? The one person I have no shot with.’ The impossibility of it all just made her slightly annoyed and she wanted to go home. She could go without her underwear too if that made it faster. “That sounds like a good idea,” she said and walked back to the bike and started to strip completely off.

“Jesus, can you warn me?!” Daryl shielded his eyes as he happened to look back at her.

“Thought it was pretty obvious what that meant,” she said rolling her eyes, buttoning her blouse up a little bit now that nothing was on underneath. She wasn’t feeling too modest, because he just thought of her as a kid anyway. She wrung out her wet clothes and stuffed them in a side zipper of her bag, and rummaged around a bit. When she looked over she saw Daryl sitting with his back against a tree trunk, chewing on a nail. He was still half-facing her though, but knew he wouldn’t have sneaked a peek. ‘Not that I would have minded that much, really. Oh my god stop it, Beth. He’s not interested in you.’ 

Daryl saw her walking towards him with a hand behind her back. “What you got know?” He asked suspiciously. She ran one hand through her wet hair, trying to detangle it. 

“Just realized I do have somethin’ for you in that bag.” She walked to his side and thrust out her hand. He looked down at the pair of bright baby blue sunglasses that looked like they once inhabited a one dollar bin at Target. “You should at least use them on the bike. Don’t know how you see a thing in the sun like this.”

He smirked. “Didn’t have anything in pink?” He asked taking them from her and noticed the long ugly scar on her wrist. Daryl had a feeling she used that hand on purpose, maybe because of seeing his back. There was no mistaking what caused that scar; it was something anyone who met her would judge her on. He slid the cheap plastic girl’s sunglasses on his face. “How do I look? Still a badass?” Beth put her hand on her lips, but he could see the smile in her eyes. She gave a nervous little look, suddenly seeming more timid than she had been.

“I think they make you even more of a badass,” she said.

“More of a badass?” He stood up. “Hmm, didn’t know that was possible.”

“Shut up,” she said rolling her eyes. “I never should have said anythin’!”

The ride back was quiet, and she was surprisingly tired, smiling as the prison came into view.

Maggie and Rick opened the gate for them and her sister ran to give Beth a huge hug. “Go well?”

“Yeah, can you take this bag for me? I’m exhausted,” as she handed over her findings to Maggie, her sister glanced over at Daryl.

“Nice shades,” Maggie commented with a smile. “Where’d you get those?”

“Off a walker your little sister killed with her bare hands.”

“That’s obviously not true!” Beth had to exclaim before her Maggie’s face got any more distraught. “He’s just fucking with you.”

Maggie gave Daryl a glare. “All right you two, dinner is about ready. And you better watch your mouth around daddy.” Maggie looked her over. “What happened to your clothes? And your hair is all wet,” she said slightly lifting her cap. Beth looked to Daryl in dismay.

“Went for a swim, ain’t it obvious?” He said shouldering his crossbow and starting to walk up the hill.

“Maggie, gimme a hand with this damn lock, it’s sticking again,” Rick said trying to lock the gate.

“Yeah, coming,” she said giving Beth a look before going to help him.

Beth jogged to catch up with Daryl. He stopped as soon as she was walking beside him. 

“You go on ahead a bit,” he said. She could not take him seriously wearing those sunglasses.

“Why?” She couldn’t help smiling. 

“Just do it.”

“Fine,” she rolled her eyes again. She seemed to be doing that a lot around him. Beth walked ahead a few paces then turned; he was just staring at her for a moment before walking up to where she was. “What are you doin’?”

“I know riding that motorcycle took a toll on you. Making sure you ain’t walkin’ funny. You know, don’t want the others to get any ideas,” he said flipping the shades onto his head as he gave her a small smirk and kept walking past her.

Her mouth was wide open, standing still a moment, before following behind at her own pace. Narrowing her eyes and willing all the courage she had responded. “Good thing Carol told me you were real good at massages, ‘cause now that you mention it, I may need your hands later.” She didn’t mean for her voice to get that low tone at the end. And maybe it was her imagination, but she thought he broke his stride for just a second. ‘I can’t believe I just said that!’ She actually winced.

‘Fuck Daryl, stop baiting her!’ He knew he shouldn’t be doing it at all. It was fun, but it was wrong. And one had to trump the other. He turned his back to the door as he opened it, to hold it open for her.

She dared to give him a triumphant look. ‘I won,’ she thought.

“I’d watch myself if I was you, little girl,” he said as she passed.

Beth stopped; it had to be the dopamine or something, because she felt a little buzzed. She poked him in the chest with her finger as she faced him, and he almost jumped at the unexpected action. “Maybe you should watch yourself,” she said looking up at him with a sly smile. Her wide doe blue eyes looked anything but innocent. She then turned and let her finger drag across his chest as she past him into the prison.

‘Yes! You owned it, girl!’ She mentally fist-pumped at her action. She wanted to giggle and run like a school girl, but that would kind of ruin the entire thing. “I win,” she mouthed silently to herself as she entered.

Daryl walked through the main area and saw Glenn open his mouth wanting so badly to say something about the sunglasses on his head. All he had to do was give him the ‘Go ahead, I fucking dare you look,’ and he looked like he was biting his tongue not to speak. Beth was looking at him, he could tell, so he flicked them back down over his eyes, just to let the room know he was aware what they were thinking and didn’t give a shit. 

“Guess it went well, then?” Glenn asked instead.

“She’s back in one piece ain’t she? He said throwing his stuff down on the table and walking up the stairs, both hands grasping the railing as he did that effortlessly upward movement.

She couldn’t have been more turned on by his ‘I don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks,’ attitude. There was also the stairs thing. ‘I find him walking up stairs sexy? What the hell is wrong with me?’ And suddenly felt like she lost a battle or something. Looking up to the catwalk as he walked to his room she saw him take off the glasses. He stopped and looked down at her, raising an eyebrow and giving her an amused small smile, before disappearing into the cell. “That bastard,” she whispered.

Even with everything that happened, Beth walked to her cell and let herself pass out in bed. Maggie let her sleep through dinner into the next day, and then tried to wake her, but the younger girl groaned and swatted at her when she got too close.

Maggie sighed walking back out and rubbed her head. “Still sleeping,” she said to Glenn and Hershel.

“It’s almost noon,” Glenn said incredulously. “Isn’t she always the first one up every day?”

“Must have been quite a day,” Hershel mused. “She didn’t even wake up when Judith started crying, she’s usually such a light sleeper.”

“They got a lot of stuff. We have plenty of clothes for Judith, and some random things I think Beth just kind of stuffed in there,” Glenn chuckled. “I did the same thing back in the beginning. Just grabbing everything I could get my hands on. It’s good for her. I’m glad no one listened to me for once,” he smiled. Hershel chuckled, but Maggie was not amused. 

Beth slunk to the table, still barely awake as Carl greeted her. “Hey.” 

“Hey,” she said sitting with yawn. She could feel the sunburn on her arms from being in out all day yesterday.

“You okay?” He asked concerned, looking her over.

“I’m fine.”

“Here, eat something,” Maggie came up and shoved a plate of food in front of her.

Beth raised her eyes with a bit of annoyance to her sister. She didn’t like her tone at all. “Thanks,” she said and still ate to keep her somewhat happy, but was surprised when Maggie reached over and pushed a piece of her hair behind her ear. 

“I was so worried about you. I know you were with Daryl, and if you were out there with anyone I’d want it to be him.”

Carl softly scoffed beside her, but Beth ignored it. “Now you know how I feel when you’re out there all the time,” she said squeezing her hand.

Maggie finally smiled. “I know. I just worry about you. It’s my job.”

Meanwhile Daryl had to deal with something much worse as he got ready for watch outside. Merle.

“So you took that sweet piece of ass for a ride yesterday, did ya?”

Daryl set his jaw. He dealt with this sort of shit his whole life. He didn’t even hear it anymore, or that’s what he told himself. 

“She taste as sweet as she looks?”

“Will you shut up,” he muttered.

“Wat’s a matter, little brother? You had a nice little date, right? Givin’ you gifts and all, she’s practically beggin’ to suck your dick. I bet she’s tight as fuck too. Hell, I’d be happy to take her off your hands.”

“Fuck Merle, she’s barely eighteen, if she’s even that!”

“Not even jailbait anymore, so I guess that’s why you don’t want any of that. Too old for ya?”

Daryl gritted his teeth and got out of the room as fast as he could; finally taking a breath once he got outside. He growled to himself for not punching him in the face and went to the east guard tower. 

Rick stopped him at the stairs. Daryl decided that was going to shoot the next person who asked how it went with Beth in the head. He did have a couple people in mind that he hoped would ask him, just for that reason alone. 

“Hey, you gave me real good idea about Beth. ‘Bout time someone trained her on watch, maybe with a rifle up there too.”

It took a moment to process that. “You want me to do that too?” He was preparing for the internal screaming, that only a year ago he’d actually do aloud.

Rick laughed hitting him in the arm. “Nah, I’m sure you’ve had enough of her. Gonna have Carl do it.”

He almost said something, but just nodded and went up the stairs, annoyed. ‘That kid is a terrible shot. Shouldn’t be teachin’ anyone anythin.’ But that wasn’t what was bothering him completely. He knew being around her was a bad idea. Things were getting weird between them, with some sort of badly disguised flirting, that didn’t want to admit was in fact flirting. He was terrible at that sort of thing anyway. He didn’t understand why a young girl would even play around with him like that, unless she was really bored. But Beth wasn’t the type of girl who’d just do that. “Doesn’t matter,” he spoke to himself as he climbed the stairs. “She’s too young. She’s young enough to be my fucking daughter.” He figured if he told himself that enough, maybe it would stick.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drastic change of tone halfway through. This is moving towards a very unconventional relationship.

Beth wasn’t really doing what she was supposed to with Carl. He was supposed to be teaching her how to shoot, and that was not what they were doing. Up in the guard tower the two of them laughed and reminisced about times before everything went to hell, like school, sports, and tv shows they used to watch. Nostalgia was a funny thing, especially now when everything that once was terrible now became a beautiful memory. She really liked Carl and smiled watching him talk so energetically. In such a short amount of time she watched him grow up so fast. And after everything he had to go through she was really impressed how he was stepping up. He had the biggest brown eyes and always gave her a sweet smile. They were only 4 years apart, and he looked so much younger just a few months ago. 

But then her thoughts went back to him. ‘How old is Daryl anyway? Late 30s, early 40s, so more than double my age, probably’. But that didn’t bother her, or make him any less attractive. If anything, maybe it made it him a little hotter. She smiled stupidly as her mind daydreamed away. Every now and then she was brought out of reverie by Carl, prodding her to take her turn. She was kind of done with shooting for the day. She was a miserable shot, and the recoil hurt her arm like hell.

She really hoped Daryl didn’t see her fail so badly at it. She wanted to impress him, and not to look cute or make him want her. If Daryl was impressed with you, well, that meant something. She had given up on any thought of him as something more than what he was now. ‘What is he now anyway? Can I call him my friend?’ She knew it was just one of those crushes. But she could fantasize. And she was really good at doing that. With no chance of anything happening she should have had an easier time around him. But that didn’t seem to be the case.

“Hey I got to run and check the back, real quick you okay to keep going?” Carl asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she said watching him leave, and happy to have a break. She walked around the outer piece of the guard tower surrounded by a railing eyeing the grounds. She should had been practicing her shots, but leaning over the railing she saw Daryl, Glenn and Rick talking outside down by the fence. It was kind of cool being able to see what everyone was doing. But she wasn’t prepared to make an idiot out of herself with an audience, so she sat cross legged on the ground. Resting her cheek against her palm, she stared blankly out into the field. Walkers lazily wandered by, too far away to be a worry about. She watched the three men talk for a bit and start to walk back. Now that they weren’t getting first row seats to her failure show, she picked up the rifle again determined to at least get one shot at the target in the yard. 

Her arms were already getting sore, and she had limited amount ammo she was allowed to waste. She fired and cursed for the miss and the pain that shot through the joint in her arm.

Daryl quickly climbed the steps; he wasn’t even trying to be so quiet she didn’t hear him; it came naturally to him. He watched her, from behind, part of him enjoying the fact that she had no idea he was there. She should be more aware of her surroundings; he could come up right behind her and… ‘Jesus, she’s not prey, stop thinkin’ like that.’ 

“I’m terrible.” She threw her head back and gave an exaggerated sigh. 

“Cause you’re doin’ it all wrong.”

Beth snapped her head over; Daryl was leaning against the railing shaking his head at her. ‘How did he get up here so fast?’ She gave him a glare. “That’s super helpful, thanks.” ‘Geez Beth, don’t be mean just because you want something you can’t have!’ She yelled at herself for being rude to him.

“Don’t sass me, girl. Do it again,” he said crossing his arms.

“No,” she lowered the weapon, but feeling anxious for refusing. “I don’t need you criticizin’ me,” she turned back away from him. “You can go on now,” she said waving her hand at him. She did not want him watch her, but she was being really smart to him right now. It was really against her nature to be like that.

He sighed and walked towards her. “Just lift the damn gun for a minute, will ya?

She didn’t want to, now overcome with nerves, but did what he said anyway.

“First,” he said walking up next to her, but paused and raised an eyebrow. “Face the right direction,” he said glancing toward the yard. She felt that rush of blood to her face that was becoming way too familiar when he was around. She slowly turned, and he could barely hide the amusement in his voice, luckily she couldn’t see his face. He eyed her up and down, telling himself it was for her shitty stance, but his eyes lingered longer than they should have. “Second, your feet need to be wider apart.” She shuffled them apart about an inch. “Wider than that, come on,” he kicked feet to their proper spacing. She made a small noise of protest at his action. “Next, your shoulders are too high,” he said pressing them downward a bit. “And you’re too damn tense, relax a little bit.” Daryl shook her shoulders for emphasis.

‘Ha!’ She internally laughed. ‘Yeah, that’s going to happen.’ She began to seriously wonder if he was doing all of this on purpose. If he knew that he was having such an effect on her, but it sounded so insane that she shoved the thoughts aside.

He came around front, and she saw his somewhat entertained face turn into an annoyed frown. She jumped as his thumb ran across the hurting spot on her between her shoulder and joint. Wearing only a tank top was probably a bad idea. The skin was already bruising. 

“You should be holding it against you, that way you’d just get the push of the recoil instead of it slamming into you that hard, Jesus.” Daryl was observant. That was something no one could argue with so he saw how her eyes dilated when he got close, the slight increase of her breath, and how she’d get a little tremble in her fingers. He knew, and he felt sick that he was compelled to keep teasing her.

“Well geez, that would have been good to know a couple hours ago,” she said situating it better, but wincing at the damage that was already done. He nodded at the target, for her to keep going. “Alright.,” she sighed. “So how you keep this thing still enough?”

“Depends on the person, needs to be comfortable enough, but,” he took her left hand and moved under more. “That might be better since you’re so damn small. I usually have my arm out, but you can do either way. Balance is what you need.” She was too caught up in the fine detail of his movements, the focus in his eye as he did it, and the general knowledge he just possessed. Now of course she barely heard a thing he said. He walked back to her side. “Now when you get it ‘bout lined up, take a few breaths, and then right after you exhale, take the shot.” He set her all up positioned and ready to go. 

“You want me to do it now?” She asked. 

“Yeah, sometime today would be nice.”

“I can’t with you staring at me. Makes me nervous,” she said with as much authority as she could.

“Too bad. Not gonna worry about me watchin’ ya when walkers are runnin’ through that fence.”

“Fine,” she whispered still staring down the target. She tried to forget he was there, relax a little, take her breaths, and pulled the trigger. She missed. But she never got that close before; it wasn’t too bad, and definitely not as painful. She was about to lower the gun when he pushed it back up with his finger.

“We ain’t done yet. Again,” he said with a quiet, but firm low voice.

The command made her heart jump into her throat. She didn’t even give him any sass or make a face in return. She just did it, feeling a tingling excited energy. Beth wasn’t sure how she was going to do well when she could hear the tremble in her breath. He wordlessly and softly pressed her shoulders back down, after she unconsciously moved from the proper position. She felt dizzy. ‘Okay, just do this!’ She pulled the trigger and missed again, but still close. She never felt so excited before. “Again?” She asked not looking away.

“We’re goin’ until you hit it or we run out of bullets.” She bit her lower lip at his words.

“How many bullets do we have?” She smiled, hearing his small laugh.

“The more you talk the longer you’re gonna be here.”

“Yes’sir,” she said unable to help the small smile play upon her lips. She began calling him that whenever he gave her that authoritative tone. It was just to be respectful since she was raised that way, now it was becoming not quite as innocent. 

She missed two more times, huffed, and stretched her neck. The frustration was getting to her and her arms were tired.

“Getting pissed off is just gonna make it worse,” he said moving back into her view resting his arms on the rail looking out into the yard. 

“Well, what do you propose I do?” She asked letting the annoyance come out in her voice, but also making an effort not to stare at his ass.

“Think about somethin’ else,” he said glancing over his shoulder at her. 

“I can’t tell if you’re a good teacher or a terrible one,” she said trying to line up again.

“An I can’t tell if you’re a good or terrible student,” he shot back. “Since you’re arguing instead of listen’ I’m leanin’ toward terrible.”

“Whatever,” she whispered. Thinking about something else meant thinking about him coming behind her grasping her hips and growling into her ear. She ran her tongue over her lower lip. “You think I care what you think?”

Daryl smiled at her words knowing she couldn’t see it. “Fine. I’ll leave you be then,” he suddenly pushed himself up and started to leave.

“Daryl! Wait, where are you going?” She asked still trying to take this damn shot.

“What? You don’t need me,” he said walking back. She felt him come right up next to her, just as she was about to pull the trigger. “I’m a terrible teacher, right? You don’t care what I think.” He said in his low voice right in her ear. 

Beth wasn’t even paying attention to the damn target anymore. She shot and tried to turn around to face him, but hands stopped her when they grasped her waist just like she pictured in her head a second ago. 

“No. That didn’t look like a hit to me,” he was refusing to let her quit.

“I hate you,” she whispered, the words came out shaky.

He chuckled in her ear, sliding his hands quickly left her. “What? You think I was gonna let you off easy?”

Beth smiled. She was hot and bothered, and knew nothing would come of it, and still wanted to do this all night. Unfortunately her next shot hit the target. “Oh my god!” She let her tired arms down and released the gun. She turned, bouncing on her heels with a grin. “I did it!”

“Yeah, ‘bout time.”

She hugged him, hopping up to wrap her hands around his neck. He instantly tensed, and his hands didn’t dare touch her. Sensing his discomfort she made it swift. “Alright maybe you do know what you’re doing.” She gave him a quick kiss just to the side of his mouth, then let him go. ‘Get a hold of yourself.’ She fanned herself with her hand. She tried to tell herself it was the heat. “Oh I think I need a drink,” she said aloud. “Thank you,” she said to him. “You are a good teacher.”

“You’re still a bad student. Hell, when I was in school if you acted out like that you’d get your ass smacked til you couldn’t sit.’”

“Glad I don’t have to worry about that,” she said trying not to get caught up in that imagery. Good thing he wasn’t really her teacher and she didn’t go to that school. “Now that’s good one,” she mused now with a brand new fantasy.

“What was that?”

‘Oh god I said that aloud!’ She faked a cough, “Uhm, nothing. Sorry.” ‘Since when did all my thoughts get so dirty and all involving Daryl Dixon?’   
“Keep practicing, kid. I want three more hits out of you,” he said walking back to the stairs.

“Ugh, my arms are killin’ me. And how will you know if I do anyway?”

Daryl didn’t even turn back as he headed down the stairs. His voice carried up as he walked down, “I’ll know.” He past Carl on the steps and gave him a small smile. “Hey kid,” and ruffled his hair as he past. 

 

Beth lay in bed wide-awake and frustrated. After that intense shooting lesson she was riding that high all day. She had no other comparison of anything close to that kind of desire. And being human, she needed some sort of release. Chewing her lip, and wanting so badly to just take care of it, her hand sat just above her shorts. It was hard to get into the mood with no real privacy. Everyone should be asleep, but even so, she couldn’t bring herself to slip her hand into her panties. Anyone could just walk by. She cursed Daryl, and hoped he had to deal with the same frustration, even if she wasn’t the cause of it. Her arms and shoulders ached something terrible from shooting earlier. She kicked at her sheets and forced herself up. Hell, she’d go outside for some fresh air; someone was on watch out there. It was steamy in the cellblock anyway.

Daryl wasn’t on watch, he knew that Michonne preferred the other guard tower, so he could smoke outside and get away from that cage. He found a half a bottle of whiskey too; it was a good night so far. He thought about moving his bed up there. It was much more relaxing at least until he kept hearing some sort of groaning noise below in the courtyard. ‘No way a walker made it in here without anyone knowin’.’

He had to lean down over the open tower window to see Beth sitting on the bottom stair, rubbing her shoulder with a painful groan. She moved her neck from side to side.  
Beth leaned forward, putting her head between her legs, stretching her back trying to get some relief. Leaning up straight and she rotated her shoulders back, felt the firm pressure of two large hands on her shoulders. She started to shout in protest but once his hands actually pressed into her skin, she almost went limp, letting her head fall back with a loud moan.

“Shhh,” he hushed in her ear. “Damn girl.”

She relaxed fully once she heard his voice. This thumb pressed right into the muscle beneath her shoulder. “Ow, ow, owwww!” 

“Just breathe and stop makin’ noise,” Daryl berated and Beth grit her teeth, unable to comply with that much pain. The heavy smell of smoke and alcohol radiated off him.   
She breathed like she was in labor while his fingers pressed into her very sore muscles. It was the worst kind of pain mixed with the pleasure of barely relieved sore muscles. “Ah, ah, ah, oh god that hurts, but so good, ah, sorry!” She whined out.

He clamped a hand over her mouth. “You’ve got to shut up right now. Jesus, can you keep it down a little?” Daryl was trying not to think too much about it, but instead she seemed to just use his hand on her mouth as an excuse to moan even louder, so he applied more pressure.

“You’re just trying to get me trouble ain’t ya?” He asked, but still not stopping his fingers on her skin or releasing her mouth. Her skin was unbelievably soft; she finally relaxed in his arms, sort of slumping against him.

She shook her head, slightly squealing as he hit a very sensitive spot. Was he trying to bring her to the breaking point? Because it was working, and she was ready to admit defeat. He won. And where was this alcohol she smelled?

“So what did you come out here for?” He asked letting her mouth free.

She looked over her shoulder at him. “You been drinking?”

“A little. How’d the hell d’you know?”

“How bout a shot?” She asked standing and turning around on the step. She wasn’t wearing much, just a tank top and some small sweat shorts.   
“A shot?” He responded, trying to keep his eyes on her face.

“S’okay. I can just help myself,” she said running up the steps past him, before he could react. 

“Beth, get your ass back here, or do I need to haul you back to bed?”

‘Like to see ya try,’ she thought already at the top. Inside the small room there was just a crossbow, gun, a blanket that did nothing for the hard concrete floor, the alcohol and a pack of cigarettes with two left. She picked up the bottle and took a seat on the blanket. Unscrewing the cap she took a swig as he entered and coughed immediately with a sour look on her face. “I see you made it real comfy up here,” she said already squirming in discomfort on the barely useful thin piece of fabric.

“What the hell do you think you’re doin?” He said swiping the bottle from her hands. 

“What you never heard of sharing?” Beth reached for it, but he kept it out of reach.

“You ain’t old enough for that.”

“Hush up, Daryl. I know you’ve been drinking long before it was legal. I’m somewhere close to eighteen, I can smoke and drink if I want to. And I’ve been having a bad night. Come on.”

“I’m rationing you on this,” he said handing it back to her. “And what the hell makes it a bad night for you? Baby crying too much again? Am I the only one who can take care of that kid?” He sounded annoyed and she pursed her lips wondering if she should just go.

“Can’t help that she likes you so much. But no.” And she glanced around again changing the subject. “You know that Maggie and Glenn have sex in here, right?”

“Where don’t those two fuck?”

She snorted a laugh at his words. “Well at least they got each other. Some of us aren’t so lucky, you know.” She was really trying not make a face every time the whiskey hit her tongue. 

“I don’t know if I’d call that lucky,” he said finally taking a seat with his back against the wall and talking the bottle from her as soon as she took her sip.  
“I would,” she said pulling her knees up to her chest.

“Probably end being you and Carl to repopulate the earth,” he said. “He’s more your age anyway,” he grasped a lighter out of his pocket not even looking at her.

“Carl. Really?” She asked incredulously. “Well, he’s nice enough I guess,” she said and saw his eyes look back over to her. “I could really see you and Michonne hooking up.” 

“Do you now?” he asked with a surprised look on his face. “Hmm, never really thought about her like that. I actually kind of like the thought of that,” he said sort of looking off.  
Beth was ninety percent sure he was joking, but still didn’t like it. She grasped the alcohol again.

They were both being childishly mean to one another. He leaned back and lit a cigarette and she laid down on her side, watching him.

“What?” He asked. He one of the few people she’d ever see able to talk with it still in his mouth and look sexy. And even the way he held it in his hand and exhaled the smoke. “I’m not giving you one.”

“Don’t want one,” she said with a smile. Just happy, and not because the alcohol was giving her a nice little buzz. She was just happy being around him.

“Just like starin’ at me?” He asked, obviously loose from drinking, but as the smoke escaped his lips she was sure the night was going to end badly, because she was afraid she was going to do something.

“Yeah, I do,” she said with a grin.

It was really dark up there, but with the stars and moon she could at least see him pretty well.

He took a deep drag and rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. “What are you doin’ out here, really?” His voice kind of changed tone, to something more weary and tired.

“Couldn’t sleep. Too much going on in my head, and it’s hot as hell in there.” 

“You should watch your mouth. Your dad’s gonna think you’re getting’ that from me.” He wasn’t being playful, he just looked like she’d always seen him before. Kind of stoic and a little sad.

She leaned up a bit, her smile faded with the tone of how everything just kind of dropped. “Sorry,” was all she said.

“Sorry ‘bout your sister, Jimmy and the farm stuff.”

‘Why is he bringing this up?’ She gave him a questioning look. “What’s the matter?” 

“You told me all that shit before, at that lake. And you didn’t have to. So, you wanna know something I don’t want to tell anyone?”

She suddenly felt very nervous, somewhat afraid to hear what he was going to say. “Only if you wanna tell me,” she said sitting up. Sure she actually looked a little scared; this was so unlike him!

“My life before this all happened was fucking hell. My childhood was pretty much fucked completely. I’d probably be in this fucking prison or dead. The world going to hell and all…” he stopped and snorted to himself taking another drink, with the cigarette still tucked between the fingers of the same hand. “…Is probably the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” He looked her in the eye. “I know it’s fucked up.”

She got up on her knees and swung a leg over him, straddling him, her hands fisted his shirt, pressing her forehead against his. “That’s a stupid thing to say to me, Daryl Dixon.” His eyes had a look in them that hurt her heart. 

“Beth,” he almost had her whole name out when she kissed his lips softly, lingering for just a second before parting her lips to get a better taste of him. He responded and just the slow move of his lips against hers almost made her heart explode. She flushed grasping the fabric of his shirt even tighter in her fists. She kissed him harder and deeper, his hand cupped her face, keeping her close. She ran a hand through his hair, making a noise of pleasure as her tongue delved into her mouth. He tasted like cigarettes and cheap liquor and she couldn’t have found it more delicious. He made a low noise in his throat as his mouth worked against hers with equal ferocity. His hand knotted in her blond hair. He resituated her on his hips, the grinding motion against her pussy, made her leave his mouth to moan out. 

Daryl looked up at her with half-lidded eyes, mouth still open as he breathed deeply. She leaned back in for more, but his hand in her hair didn’t allow any further progression. Before she could park on the thought of being held back with just that bit of pain, sitting astride his hard cock she could feel beneath his jeans and which was making her panties wet, he pulled her back. But instead of pulling her lips to his, he was pulling her back. 

“No,” he whispered, swallowing hard. “No, no fucking way,” he breathed heavily, and freed his other hand to push her off of him without shoving her. Daryl quickly pushed himself to his feet. “What the fuck was that?” He seemed pissed off. She was still slightly shaky from it all. Her breathing was fast.

“I…thought maybe,” she felt her voice waver. “You wanted to-“

“Have you lost your damned mind?” 

“Don’t you want to?” She asked. 

“What? N..no, of course not. You’re way too young for me.”

“You kissed me back.” 

“I’ve been drinking!” He said defensively and louder than he meant to.

She tried not to let the anger and humiliation get to her. “Whatever,” she pushed herself up. She wasn’t going to cry. ‘You got turned down. What the hell did you expect?’ 

“Beth.”

“I’m going, okay!” She was half out the door, when he grasped her arm from behind. She turned back to look at him. He looked conflicted, and upset. 

“I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothin’ to be sorry about,” she said shrugging her shoulders. The defeated feeling was overcoming her now. “At least I gave it a shot. You only live once, right? Or kinda once, I’m not sure if you can call turning twice?”

Daryl gave her a look at the sudden change in demeanor. It wasn’t possible to be that optimistic. “Are you okay?”

Pursing her lips, she crossed her arms. “No, I’m not alright. If anythin’ you owe me the rest of that bottle so I can forget this all ever happened.”

“Believe me, it wouldn’t have lived up whatever you’re thinkin.”

“Better than nothing, or just doing it myself,” she said looking at him, hoping that at least elicited some sort of response.

He couldn’t believe she actually went that far. Daryl knew he’d never be the one to make the first move, and he didn’t. This is Beth of all people, and she went that far to fuck him. He couldn’t deny how much that turned him on. Yes, he kissed her back, and he didn’t want to stop. He was hard before, but thinking about actually fucking her, he had to shut that down before he came in his pants. “Alright.”

There was an intense look in his eye that made all her bravado and alcohol induced confidence start to disappear. “What?” She was wary of that look he was giving her.  
“If we’re gonna do this let’s do this.”

She unconsciously shrank back a bit, eyes wide in shock. “What?” She repeated.

“Now you’re gonna play hard to get?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I…” She didn’t know what to say. First of all the mood was shot to hell. “Okay,” even still, she was breathless already, his blue eyes grazing her over in a way she never saw before, and not only did it make her stomach flip, but she was sure her panties were pretty much soaked through to her shorts anyway. “I didn’t just wear you down or anything, right? I don’t want any sort of pity thing going on here.”

“You just going to stand there and talk? Cause after Michonne is Glenn for watch, and he likes using this vantage point,” he said taking his shirt off.

This was not what she had pictured in her head when she daydreamed. Not that she expected romance or anything, but nothing?

Beth grasped his arm, as his hands went to his pants, and pulled his face down to hers. She kissed him slowly, and he slowed his pace to meet hers. It started messy and languid, slowly building up with more hunger and sexual frustration. His hands slid up the sides of her body under her shirt. The feel of his rough hands on her skin made her bite down on his lower lip. Daryl made that low noise again deep in his throat again that she thought she imagine the first time. He broke the kiss to move lower, pulling her by the hair and nipping her neck. Her mewling did nothing to dissuade him nor did the panting as he sucked on the spot. She was barely able to pull herself free just so she could take off her shirt.

Apparently neither were drunk enough to lose enough inhibition to get over their lack of confidence. And there was the lack of time too. ‘So it’ going to go down like this,’ she mused holding on to the wall for balance, sliding down her shorts, and kicking them off. Daryl grasped her arm pushing her back against the wall, and she yelped at the coldness against her skin before she could even get her panties off. “Ain’t got all day,” he said. 

“Then take off your pants.”

He smirked at her in the dark, while she pushed down her panties, and kissed her long and slow. Their hands were a bit frantic, not really knowing where to go. He seemed a little afraid of still touching her, his hands barely brushed against her breasts. Even the small touch was making her desperate for more. Here she was completely naked and he obviously was not going to take the lead…yet. All she wanted was his fingers in her pussy right then, but was too embarrassed to ask him to or move his hand there. Or even better, his mouth there.

‘Alright, Beth.’ She was going to have to talk herself up for this. She had no problem doing it in general, but not usually the person to initiate. She liked being reactionary; this was far out of her comfort zone. ‘Maybe next time.’ She had nothing to be scared of, but was kind of worried about spooking him off. She giggled; like he was some kind of wild animal.

“What the hell are you laughing about?” He asked against her lips.

She gently grasped his cock in her hand, and licked her lips. He choked a gasp in surprise, and she dropped to her knees. The concrete ground was completely unforgiving, but she was going to power through that. 

The last thing Daryl expected was for her to go down on him. The minute he felt her hot mouth on his cock a loud groan escaped his lips. His hand grasped her hair, immediately going to stop her, but then couldn’t go through with it. “Fuck,” he hissed, as she took nearly his entire cock into her mouth, he unconsciously twisted his hand in her hair. She moaned softly with him still in her mouth, then swirled her tongue around him. His hand braced himself on the wall, and he knew there was no way he would last more than a minute if she kept going. “Ya..gotta stop,” he fought the groan in his voice then quickly followed that with another deep shuddering breath. “Beth,” he could barely say her name. If one more second passed he was just going to hold her head there and finish, because he was losing control. 

Beth loved hearing him trying to hold it together. She pulled back and Daryl wasn’t sure if he was pissed that she stopped or not. She leaned up and he sat back against the wall pulling her into his lap like they first started out. 

“You change your mind?” He asked, looking into her wide somewhat scared eyes.

“No, not at all,” she said quietly, then kissed him hard, just wanting him to do it. She was getting into the feel of his facial hair against her skin. He kissed her back, hand slid between her legs, she moaned lightly into his mouth as he ran his fingers over her wet slit then inside, testing her readiness. Honestly, it had been so long that she had sex that no amount of readiness was going to do much. 

Her hands gripped his shoulders, nails biting into his skin in anticipation, lowering her hips to his as he slid into her. They both gave a sharp breath, her body tensed for a moment, waiting desperately for him to move. In desperation she finally had to arch herself up first, then sliding down him filling her completely and shuddered a sigh. His hands grasped her ass, lifting her up and pulling her back down, her eyes rolled back a bit, her forehead pressed against him. She loved the noises he made, the low groan against her neck, his hands gripped her with more force as he thrust slowly up to her. She was already feeling the slick sweat on her brow, panting and couldn’t feel the hard ground on her knees anymore as she rode him. The way she moved her hips, how effortlessly she slid on him, and she leaned back to push her blond hair out of her face. He had to close his eyes.

It wasn’t going take long at all, and was doing his damndest to fight it off. His hands ran up her back. “I want you to cum in me,” she said gasping out. “It’s be okay,” she added hoping he’d let her explain later. 

He was barely holding on, and she had to say that. He grasped her face as she slid up and down on top of him, pulling to him so her lips just inches from his. It was enough just looking into those blue lust-filled eyes.

“What was that?” The burning look in his eyes made her suddenly very nervous.   
“Cum in me please,” her voice sounded like it was breaking. 

“That’s what’s gonna get you off?” His voice was so raw, she trembled at it. And she felt him grip her hips tighter.   
She was so close, she shut her eyes tight. “Yes.”

Daryl couldn’t have found that hotter. She was so wet, and god it had been too long for him. He wasn’t sure how he was still going. He lifted her up, still not breaking contact and pushed her on her back with him on top. Now it was his turn for his knees to hurt like hell, but he couldn’t feel it at the moment. She arched her back, and he had to stop a moment. She tried to raise her hips up, but his hands forced them to the ground. “Beth, stop moving,” he said with a growl, but his voice still shook. 

“Please,” she begged. “Please, please, Daryl. I need-“ She was silenced by his hand again over her mouth. How many times has he had to do this? He took a ragged breath as the moment passed before he began to thrust into her again, harder than before. He was sweaty and completely baffled. And slightly pissed off. 

“Goddamn it Beth. Do I need to find a fucking ball gag for that damn mouth?” Her eyes fluttered open and she groaned against his hand. She was so, so close. On the edge, panting and gasping. He didn’t expect that to fucking turn her on that much. ‘Kinky little bitch.’ He let his hand slid off her mouth to brace himself, because he was going to come any second.

“You better fucking cum for me, Beth,” he knew his voice was shaking. He didn’t even know what he was doing anymore. Daryl was just saying shit without thinking, but she cried out at his words going to cum right then. Her ankles locked around his calves, pulling in his cock as deep as she could, and felt her contract around him. She came so hard she almost screamed, but bit into his shoulder instead releasing a strangled sob, her hands grasping on to him as if her life depended on it. “Fuck,” he groaned as Beth writhed against him. He slammed into her as deep as he could, while also trying to hold in a cry of his own. Her lips were on his neck licking his sweat covered skin in an orgasmic haze. He kept himself from falling against her, breathing hard above her hoping his sweat wasn’t dripping from his hair into her face. 

She looked up at him sated. Her lips swollen and parted as she breathed. She was a mess, her blond hair was tangled and she had sheen of dirt and sweat. Pushing some hair out of her face, Daryl kissed her forehead chastely. He weakly rolled them over, giving his knees a break; they were going to be hurt for a while. 

Beth closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath. “Much better than doing it myself,” she said looking over to him.

“I remembered a time when you didn’t talk so much,” he said. “Do me a favor and just shut up for a minute, Jesus.” 

Beth smiled and rolled her eyes at the ceiling. She didn’t want to move anytime soon, and closed her eyes; she could fall asleep on the hard floor. 

The door to the prison opened and closed. “Michonne, have you seen Beth? The baby’s been crying and she was supposed to be the one on call for that. I can’t find her anywhere.”

“Shit,” she hissed sitting up her head felt woozy from the sex and the alcohol. She heard the door to the prison open, and heard her sister’s voice.

“Skippin’ out on watching the baby to drink and fuck older men?” Daryl couldn’t help himself.

“Not funny!” She threw his shirt in his face as hard as she could. “I forgot all about that!” She whispered loudly and quickly pulled on her clothes.

“I heard her a little while ago. Probably on a walk or somethin’,” Michonne’s voice responded.

“Do you think she heard us?” Beth asked wobbly getting to her feet and wincing in pain.

Daryl sat up, rubbing his temples as well, trying to get oriented. “I think that’s obvious,” he said reaching for his clothes. Before he could say anything else she had lurched out the door.

She tried to run down the stairs, but had to clutch the railing for support, while she tried to tie up her hair with the hairband around her wrist she thankfully had on her. Her legs were shaky and she was still kind of tipsy.

Beth prayed that it was dark enough that her sister didn’t see the marks that were probably on her knees and maybe her neck. But she knew she smelled like alcohol, cigarettes, sweat and sex, and there was no explanation for that unless she worked in a strip club.

“Hey, sorry!” Beth said running up on the two women, but tried to stay far enough away so they didn’t get that scent.

“Where were you?” Maggie was half asleep. 

“I went on a walk, so sorry, I’ll take care of Judith.”

“Carol’s already got her, but you had me worried. Didn’t want to wake daddy and worry him too.”

“Alright, I’ll take her turn next time. Guess I’ll get back to bed,” she said hurriedly and quickly walked past them.

“Why are you walking like that?”

“Uh, I tripped, I’m fine though.”

“That must have been what that noise was then,” Michonne said with a very obvious smile in her voice.

“Ha, you know me, fallin’ and…stuff. Night!” She said running inside, and past Glenn who was coming out as she went in.

“Ready for my turn,” he said walking up to them. “How’s it been?”

“Interesting,” Michonne answered, smirking as Daryl approached.

“What are you doing out here?” Maggie asked.

“What’s it look like?” He asked with the cigarette in his mouth and crossbow on his back. There was a slight stagger to his step. The hard ground killed his knees, he was pretty sure the alcohol was the only thing dulling the pain enough for him to walk.

“I don’t know and you limpin’ too?” 

“Tripped,” he said, and finally took the cigarette out of his mouth, wiping the sweat forehead with the back of his hand. 

“You tripped too?” Maggie was full of question and Michonne was just loving every second of this.

“Yard’s full of moles or somethin’,” Daryl said and heard Michonne fail at holding back a laugh.

“Moles?” Now Glenn was in the conversation too, much to Daryl’s dismay.

“Or gophers, I don’t fucking know. Things that make holes in the ground,” he walked off flicking the cigarette.

“Things that make holes in the ground?” Maggie repeated incredulously. “What happened to master hunter/tracker that can identify the digested remains in a walker?” 

“I think him and Rick came across some liquor this afternoon,” Glenn said watching him go. “Hey, since I’m on watch now…. You wanna come up to the tower with me?” He asked sliding his arm around her.

Maggie gave him a sly smile, “Race you up there.”


	6. Chapter 6

Daryl spent the entire night unable to sleep. ‘You fucking idiot,’ he must have repeated that statement countless times as the hours passed. ‘You could have stopped her. You DID stop her, and then you caved.’ He was a grown man for fuck’s sake, and he just let it happen. Now he wasn’t sure if he hated himself more for doing it in the first place or how much he really wanted her.

Then he thought of Carol and her reaction if she found out. ‘Fuck.’ He could see the disappointment in her eyes already. He wished he didn’t, but he really did care what Carol thought of him. They’d grown so close that he felt the same protectiveness and love towards her as he had with Merle; she was kin to him. He could deal with the wrath of Maggie, Hershel and probably Rick too, but not Carol. 

And then, of course there was Beth. He already feared she’d be clingy and think some kind of real relationship would come of this. He had to talk to her about a couple things, and lay it all out there. It didn’t matter that she was really growing on him, or that the sex with her was completely not what he expected at all, in a really good way. She had all these little quirks that he never noticed before, and was pretty sure no one else was paying any attention to either. He wasn’t stupid he knew how she physically reacted to when he put up his dominant demeanor. He started to feel guilty for actually liking it, afraid of where that actually could lead to.

Judith was not settling down and after Carol gave it numerous attempts she had to pass the infant off. Beth tried carrying her around the prison, in and outside. She bounced a little as she walked, yawning from lack of sleep. She barely had the energy to hum some sort of melody. It didn’t help that each step was still painful from the night before. Luckily she was still smart enough to put on a pair of denim capris pants that came low enough to cover the bruising. Her mind couldn’t stay on a single thought for more than a second before going back to last night. It was amazing, even if it started out a little weird. But she hadn’t even seen a glimpse of Daryl that day. Besides worrying about how he was going to act towards her, Beth was also paranoid that everyone knew, especially whenever she saw Michonne.

The thought of a gossiping Michonne going to person to person whispering about their tryst in everyone’s ear like a high school girl was comical. Her real problem was ruminating that things were possibly ruined between Daryl and herself. ‘This isn’t going to go well.’

On her third circle around, she wasn’t paying attention at all anymore. Just running on auto-pilot, unconsciously still knowing Judith was in her arms. Turning the corner she almost ran right into someone. “Oh Sorry!” She shouted out, and didn’t have to look up at his face to know who it was. His clothing told all; only one person wears a vest over a sleeveless shirt. 

“Hey, we gotta talk,” Daryl said quickly, glancing around looking for anyone nearby. “About the shit that went down yesterday.”

She looked down at the baby, who was still crying. “Now?”

“What, does she know English already?” He asked sarcastically, showing his impatience. “Give her here.” 

‘Ugh, just get it over with,’ she told herself, and let Daryl take the baby, cradling her gently in his arms.

“Shh, it’s okay. I got ya,” he said in a soothing tone, “You’re getting’ heavy ain’t ya, lil’ asskicker?” 

Beth realized she was just staring at him, partially annoyed how easy it was to calm her down, when she’d been at it for over an hour. “What is it?” She finally asked, resigned to the inevitable ‘it was a mistake’ or ‘I was drunk’ conversation.

“First of all, what did you mean it’s gonna ‘be okay ‘during all that?” The intense look in his eyes let her know he’d been worrying about it for probably the entire time.

“Oh, Maggie and Glenn cleared out all the pharmacies in the area for antibiotics and stuff. She has a decade’s worth of birth control pills, and I thought she wouldn’t miss some. I’ve been taking them for a while. You know back when the other prisoners here, just in case.” He took such a large relieved breath, she almost found it cute. That seemed to have calmed him quite a bit, and he passed the calm Judith back to her arms.

“Thank god for that. But listen,” he ran a hand over his face and sighed. “All that happened last night? It can’t ever, ever happen again.”

She silently nodded, barely looking him in the eye, using Judith as the distraction she needed. It didn’t matter, no surprise there.

“You get what I’m sayin’ right? We can’t do this with,” he waved his hand to the surroundings. “Everyone else.”

So she didn’t understand if he meant other people knowing were the problem, their age difference, or if he really wasn’t interested in her on any level and just bad at making excuses.

“I’m never gonna be your boyfriend,” he said dismissively and Beth didn’t like his tone.

“Who said I wanted that?” She spoke back in an angry but quiet whisper, so not to upset the baby again. “You think I’m still in high school, in some world where all of this didn’t happen. We’re all going to die sooner rather than later, so why not try to find some sort of fun or happiness? I like you, if you don’t like me that’s fine, but do you honestly think I want everyone to know, like my sister or my dad? I’m not an idiot.” She shook her head, sad that he would think so little of her.  
“Then you know there’s no point to doing this.”

His words actually made her laugh bitterly. Maybe she was deep down too morbid. “Daryl, there’s no point to anything anymore.” That was her honest opinion, and she watched his brow furrow in consternation.

“Are you serious?” Maybe it was the disheartened look on his face that made her think that this, was in fact, for the best.

She looked down, and turned away from him. “You heard me,” she said, walking back to the prison. Beth sighed irritably, hoping he kept his mouth shut; she didn’t need to be on suicide watch again. 

Just as she expected, Daryl kept his distance, and would barely give her recognition if he entered a room and their eyes happened to meet. It wasn’t until that moment that she felt like she did something wrong. Was she a bad person? Self-doubt began to creep into her head. She had no one to talk to and felt cast out even more from the group. 

Maggie was worried about Beth’s sudden emotional turn for the next couple weeks. Not that she moped around, but she was back to just the sober, solemn Beth that said little and kind of just….existed. It bothered her enough to go after Rick.

“Rick, what do you think of putting Beth back out on a run?” She asked, cornering him alone after clearing out another few hallways of walkers.

“I’ll keep her in mind for the next one,” he assured her. “How is she? Not as bubbly as before, I never saw her like that, it was nice to have around here.”  
Rick honestly really liked the girl. She practically the mother of his child at this point, so the happier she was then even better for Judith. 

Maggie gave him a sad smile. “That’s how she used to be before all of this. I saw my little sister again, and now she’s gone. And I don’t know what happened. I don’t think she’s gonna do anything, but it worries me.”

Rick had nothing to say. He was the last person to comment on someone’s mental state after all he went through. “Just keep an eye on her; I’m sure it will all pass.”

Maggie gave him a thankful smile and glanced behind him. “How far you’d clear out now?”

“Almost to the showers. Still not completely secure, but we’ll have it soon enough.”

“Showers?” Maggie’s eyes widened. “Well give me a holler and I’ll definitely give ya hand.”

Beth had to pretend she was grateful when she was told the news that she was going on a run. The thought of going anywhere with Daryl again, especially alone, filled her with dread.

Carol gave the spaced out looking Beth a concerned once over before finally saying something. “Sweetie are you okay?”

Beth looked up startled, and gave Carol a half-hearted attempt at a smile. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

The older woman gave her a knowing look, “You know you can talk to me if you want to. Just putting that out there.”

“Thanks….I just think I might have screwed up a good thing I had going.” Beth knew that was way too vague, and hoped she wouldn’t press her for details.

“Well, just sitting there dwelling on it, isn’t going to fix a thing. And you can’t let whatever happened bring you down, not when things are so unpredictable out there. Can’t waste time over the little things when each day isn’t promised.”

Beth smiled a little at her, “Yeah, I know. I shouldn’t let it bring me down.” 

The door opened from the outside and Maggie popped her head in and called to her, “Beth, can you lend a hand? Gotta get the car through, need a distraction!”  
“Sure thing,” She popped up, but Carol grasped her hand quickly.

“If you’re going out there, can you give this to Daryl for me? He was looking for them earlier. I had to search through a lot of cases of ammo to find that kind.” Carol said handing her a box of bullets.

“Sure,” she said trying hard to keep her smile. But Carol was right, she didn’t need to be afraid of him, or avoid him. If things were going to be weird then fine, but it would be on him.

She ran outside, Maggie pointed to the usual spot, and she ran down the path, picking up a steel piece of rebar lying out in the area for just this purpose. She put the box of ammo at her feet and, smacked the chain linked fence shouting out at the walkers in the area, trying to draw any attention she could. “Hey, over here!”

As a couple shambled over she was ready, and using both hands rammed the rebar through the links and into the walkers head, yanking it out then taking a breath before going on to the next one. It was amazing how much confidence a stupid fence made for her.

After the car was safely in the gate and locked, Beth walked back up to meet the others.

“Beth you got a minute? Want to talk about the run tomorrow,” Rick asked, but it wasn’t really a question.

“Yeah sure,” she said, glancing around and realizing Michonne, Daryl and Rick were all going. 

“Alright so I was thinking Michonne, Beth and I cover the west shopping center, and Daryl could leave a little earlier, go further ahead to that small town in Allen, then he’ll meet us back where we are before we head home,” Rick said, laying out their plans.

It was pretty straightforward, but she forgot she was holding what she was still supposed to deliver. She walked over to Daryl who was finishing talking to Rick about directions.

“Hey,” she said as normal as possible, and watched him glance over at her, and then back to putting his gear together. 

“Hey,” he returned with the same response, but not even looking at her.

“Here,” she said thrusting her hand out with the bullets, even though he wasn’t facing her. “Carol wanted me to give these to you.”

“Thanks,” she barely heard him. “You can leave ‘em on the bike.”

She wanted to throw them at his head instead. Here she was trying to keep things a little normal, and he was having none of it. ‘Can’t he even try?!’

Now it hurt. Beth sniffed as she walked back to her cell and sat on her bed staring straight ahead. Her hands clenched the thin mattress, hating herself for being so upset over him. She buried her face into her pillow, hoping everyone would just leave her alone.

Even in the morning she woke up somewhat agitated, at least until she saw something sitting at the foot of her bed. Her eyes narrowed in confusion, as she picked up the leather sheath. It was a very large buck knife, and it was unmistakably Daryl’s. “Did he leave this here for me?” She tilted her head staring at it some more as if it would come to life and answer her back. Beth told herself not to read too much into it. ‘He knows you don’t have a weapon and doesn’t want you to die, that doesn’t mean we’re back to being BFFs.’ She smiled at the ridiculous notion, knowing that spot had been taken by Carol a long time ago.

Beth glanced out the window apprehensively in the backseat of the car while Michonne drove. She wasn’t familiar with the area, as usual. But in rural Georgia you could count on a lot of little towns. It was better that way, less populous where walkers would be in smaller numbers and they could get in and out easy. As they got out the car, Michonne eyed her knife and gave her a small smile.

“Dixon taught you good,” she said drawing her sword.

Beth said nothing, following them silently. She was still pissed off at him, and not going to offer any praise.

“Alright Beth, take the two stores to the left. Michonne on the right and I’m gonna check around back real quick,” Rick said.  
A nervous chill ran through her. ‘All by myself?’

“You can do that, right?” Rick’s questioning eyes were on her.

“Yeah, sure.” She said walking to the door, with as much false confidence as she could muster. Even after talking herself up she cringed stepping inside. ‘What am I here for again?’ Her brain wasn’t working right, and she just wanted to leave.

Standing still, she heard no sound from any other movement, so she took a few steps further inside. There weren’t very high shelves and most were pretty bare, ‘should be pretty quick,’ she told herself. Lots of useless cheap knickacks and home décor, was strewn about haphazardly on display. She picked up a tacky vase, turning it in her hands as she walked down an aisle the other side. A slight sound made her freeze and adrenaline spike, she glanced behind her and saw nothing. Slowly and quietly she walked ahead, peeking around the corner and still nothing was there. God, now she was imagining things. 

She shakily walked back outside. Taking some steps to the next store in a daze, she heard Rick’s panicked whisper. “Beth, get down!”

Beth turned seeing two walkers coming in her direction. She ducked down behind a car, clenching the knife in her hand and hating everything in the world at that moment for putting her in his position. ‘Why did I ever think I’d want this? I’m not one of them!” The thought of dying helpless and alone pervaded her thoughts. The walkers split up; one was going around the car straight for her, its rasping noises got louder as it got closer.

‘You’ve done this before, so what if there’s no fence?’ She told herself, carefully watched the shuffling feet from under the car start to round the corner. As soon as it got into her direct line of sight Beth sprung up ready to stab it’s face in like she’d done a few times before, but instantly had to halt her movement and back quickly away. The walker was freakishly tall, too tall for her to get a knife in its head. She reeled back again as he tried to grab at her. ‘Now what?!’ She only had one idea, and hoped this one wasn’t very spry. She darted to her left and using all her strength viciously side kicked its knee. It exploded in a mess of tendons and ligaments, and the walker fell to the ground. Before it could use its arms get back up to swipe at her she brought the blade down into the back of its head. Staring fearfully at the motionless body, she made sure it was dead, before she wrestled the knife out of its skull. Beth was breathing hard. It was a lot different than stabbing walkers through the fence with a stick. 

“Impressive,” Michonne said giving her a raised eyebrow, and pulling her sword out of the other walker she killed.

“She’s a Greene girl. Look at Maggie now, Beth’s on her way up,” Rick said with a smile, as he came up to her, and put his hand on her shoulder. “You okay?”

She nodded, still feeling bizarrely numb. 

“There’s another one comin’,” Michonne pointed her sword to a smaller one staggering down the street. “All yours,” She said to Beth and turned the blade, offering Beth the hilt.

“You serious?” She didn’t understand. ‘Do they think I like killing these things?’ “I’m good,” she answered.

Michonne pressed the hilt into Beth’s hand. “It wasn’t a question.”

She looked to Rick helplessly, the sword was heavy, and she could barely hold it with both hands.

Rick and Michonne shared a look. “Go ahead, Beth,” he said.

‘Do they want me to die?’ She seriously mulled that thought over, because she’d prefer getting shot in the head to being eaten alive by this walker. All this tough love bullshit was wearing her out. Beth stomped down the street, prepared to fail and hoped they had a good time explaining her death to her sister and dad.

“Gotta hold it higher, and when you thrust it forward you need to take into account it being stuck in the walker, but worse than the knife. You don’t want that thing fallin’ on you, especially if it’s still biting.” Michonne was throwing in some last minute advice walking a few steps behind her.

Beth glared at her over her shoulder. 

“Decapitation is always your best bet,” Michonne added and slowed her pace, so Beth was going at it all alone.

“Thanks,” She muttered sarcastically, hefting it up as she walked closer.

It was a young woman this time, probably just around her age too. She still had some of her long dark hair, and was wearing skirt, that was about all she could get from what was left of her. The sword was too heavy to try and aim to just stab her in the face. She lifted it even higher over her shoulder and turned the blade sideways, going to go for just taking off the whole head. Daryl made a joke about her and a bat before. Beth never told him she was on the softball team for a little bit. This was just going to be a heavier and sharper bat. In order to make up for her lack of strength she’d need momentum. “Daryl, you are the best teacher,” she said aloud even if it was just in comparison to the two traitors behind her. She resituated her grip on the sword, now feeling like everything was in slow motion. She ran at the girl, screaming out frustration as she swung the blade as hard as she could. It hit its mark, right in the neck, but she wasn’t concentrating on deceleration. The weight and force of the swing turned her body. Walker blood and pieces splattered on her shoulders and face.

Beth involuntarily spit out, feeling the slimy liquid on her lips. She dropped the sword, feeling a very strange, but familiar tingling all over. Rick and Michonne were on their way to her. After wiping her eyes she noticed black began to cloud her periphery vision. This had happened before. She was in the kitchen at the farm, doing dishes. And just like then, it all went black and she collapsed on the ground in the middle of an empty street.

 

Daryl didn’t see what Rick and Michonne were hunched over, until he got off his bike. As he walked closer, Rick stood up and turned to him, revealing Beth’s pale face and blonde hair covered in blood, while she lay motionless on the ground.

He immediately raced up to them, “What the fuck happened?!” Daryl couldn’t give her body more than a glance, directing his anger at the closest person to him, Rick.

“Daryl, calm down,” Rick put his hands on his shoulders, but Daryl shoved them off violently.

“Is she fucking dead; is she bit?!”

“She’s okay,” Michonne said calmly looking up at him from her side.

“Just passed out is all,” Rick said, noting Daryl’s clenching fists.

Daryl eyed the nearby area, calming himself down. “Three walkers. She’s covered in blood, and this one here is...” He gave the messily decapitated body a questioning look. “Obviously not done by you,” he said looking up at Michonne. “You sent her to kill ‘em?”

“You said it yourself, Daryl. She needed to be toughened up,” Rick said holding back the awe of how he could just figure shit out that easily.

“She needs to know how to handle herself. You know she won’t last otherwise,” Michonne said rising to up, looking him straight in the eye.  
Daryl hated how she was always so fucking right all the time, and how matter of fact it all came out of her mouth.

“She never even lifted a damn sword in her life-“ Daryl had to stop himself, he was getting really pissed off again and had to just shut down to reign it back in. He wasn’t going to just stand there and wait for her to wake up. He gave them both a glare, and took a knee next to her. “Beth,” he said shaking her shoulder. “Come on, wake up,” he patted her cheek with his hand, and wiped away some of the walker gore from her face. “Beth!” He tried sterner and louder. She went catatonic before with shock, and he had no idea if now it was easier for her to fall into that state.

“I’ll put her in the car, we can head back,” Rick offered.

“I got her,” Daryl said, “I’m already down here.”

Beth’s eyelids flickered open seeing the sky and people, then she burst upwards panting and not having any idea where she was. She gripped her head, her vision blacked out for a second from the sudden rush.

“Beth.” She heard her name but fear was still flooded in her eyes when she saw them. It took her a second to recognize she even knew these people. She couldn’t remember what happened. Why was she in the street?

The smell was what hit her first her nose scrunched up at the rotten and putrid smell of decaying flesh. She coughed, lifting her hand to her face, but seeing it covered in shades of red and black viscous slime. “What?” She whispered woozily to the mess on herself, and stiffened when two arms tried to lift her up. Rick and Daryl were on either side of her, but as soon as she was hoisted up on her feet she tore herself away. She stepped back, but had to put a hand on her head as she staggered still not seeing straight.

“Hey there, Beth, just calm down a sec,” Rick said.

Daryl caught her shoulders from behind and walked her forward to the car, and also helping her keep her balance. “No one’s gonna hurt ya kid. It’s just us. Just me. Hate me that much now?”

“Let me go, I’m fine,” she tried to shake him free, but he just gripped her tighter.

“I’m sure you’re just fine, but you’re still gonna listen.” He stopped to open the back door of the car. He could feel her trembling from the cold; her skin and clothes were soaked through with sweat. 

“Daryl!” She put her hands on the sides of the door before he could force her inside. There was a tone in her voice that told him something was wrong.

“I’m gonna-“ She choked out, and hunched over. He recognized what the problem was and pulled her back from the car so she could throw up. He kept his arm around her, and held back the hair that fell into her face. 

Was it the saddest thing in the world that she found so much comfort in that? She was too exhausted to be embarrassed anymore. She was drenched in sweat, covered in walker fluids, and now spitting the taste of vomit out of her mouth. And he was the one taking care of her. 

“You okay now?” Daryl asked filled with concern. “Thought we lost you.”

“Uh huh,” she wasn’t going to cry, even though she really wanted to. “Sorry about all that. I’m still here,” she whispered, standing upright and he finally let her go.  
“Shut up. There’s nothin’ to apologize for.”

She managed a small smile. He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a tight quick hug. It almost felt like it was all okay again between them. She wasn’t not how he could even be this close to her with the smell and the grossness. “I think I’m 0-2 now on not having meltdowns on runs,” her voice wavered slightly from her exhaustion. 

Daryl pushed a piece of blood and gut covered hair out of her now paler than usual face. “You look like hell. Fuck, Andrea would’ve shot you twice by now.”  
Rick shook his head disapprovingly at the joke, but still had his lips quirked fighting back the smile. “Alright, I’d rather Daryl take Beth on the bike to avoid ruining the backseat of the car, but I know she’s barely conscious. Good thing we cleared out about half that section of the prison earlier, gonna need those showers.”

“Showers?!” Beth perked up with her second wind. “Really?”

Rick smiled at her sudden enthusiasm. “Not sure how warm the water’s gonna be, but yeah. We haven’t cleared the whole area, so there are plenty of walkers around. Gonna need a body guard for you.”

“I can do it,” Michonne volunteered. “I’ve already been down there and the girl deserves it.”

After getting back into the car Beth rested her head against the window, forgetting that she was smearing the glass with blood. She was ready to pass out once she got home after she cleaned herself off. 

“Beth you really did good out there,” Rick was looking at her in the rearview mirror.

She closed her eyes, not wanting to hear it, no more lies.

“We’re not fuckin’ with you,” Michonne’s voice made her eyes snap open. “I don’t waste my time blowing smoke up people’s asses. For no experience, you were good, real good. Didn’t choke, that’s what really matters.”

The prison showers were all that was keeping her going as they arrived back at the prison. Rick told her to stay in the car so he could go in first and tell everyone before they saw her that she was fine.

That didn’t stop Maggie’s horrified face. “It’s okay!” She held her sister’s hands. “I’m fine.” Beth tried to give her father a comforting smile as well, but he looked just as bad. Luckily, Michonne grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the area.

“Come on. You deserve this at least,” Michonne said, opening the gate to the unsafe area. She was one the few people that would be willing to go down there.  
Beth still hid behind her; the corridors were so dark even in the midday, so evening was even worse. She kept a hand on the swordswoman’s back the entire time as they crept down the hallways. She still had Daryl’s knife in her hands, and realized she had to return it to him as soon as she was done. Once they came to the door to the bathrooms, Michonne unlatched a chain.

“Cleared this out before, should be no worries in there, but I’ll give a quick run-through.”

Now she had the chance to wash the blood and guts out of her hair and off her body. She had a small flashlight for light as well as the tiny window that had only a hint of light coming in through it.

Michonne’s voice echoed off the tiled walls. “I’m gonna keep watch outside. Come out when you’re done.”

Beth didn’t like the sound of that. “Outside?” But her answer was the click of the door closing. “Michonne? Goddamn it.”

She scrubbed her hair ferociously, trying to get it done as fast as possible. She still had the knife sitting on the side of the separation of the shower. Water sprayed over her head and face and it never felt so good. A sound caught her attention; she heard someone say something. She leaned her head out of the stream of water, blinking the drops skewing her eyesight away. “What?” She asked softly and it echoed back unpleasantly. There was no reply, and it was creeping her out. She wasn’t going to let her overexcited system to freak her out and rinsed herself thoroughly. 

She turned the dial hoping for warmer water, when she heard something behind her. She reached out for the knife, but a hand grasped her wrist and she lashed out hitting something that felt human and heard a groan of pain, a live human groan of pain. And a curse. 

“Fuck, Girl. You a badass now too?” 

Beth squinted in the dim light, recognizing that throaty drawl, but still denying it. “Daryl?”


	7. Chapter 7

“I could have stabbed you!” Beth suddenly realized her completely naked state and tried to cover herself while simultaneously punch Daryl in the arm. Her pale skin reflected enough of the small amount of light in the dark room to make her still pretty self-conscious. The initial fear passed quickly and was replaced with burning enthusiasm. ‘I can’t believe he came in there for me like this.’ He spoke before she could act on any of it. 

“I kinda doubt that,” Daryl said and kept his eyes away from her. “I was just makin’ sure you were okay. It was a stupid idea to leave you alone in here after you passed out.” He looked around the large room. “Hell, you’d probably bust your head open in here.”

“That’s…sweet of you, but kinda inappropriate, ain’t it?” Baffled by his behavior Beth turned her body away modestly. “What about Michonne?” 

“Told her I was gonna take a shower,” he carelessly shrugged. “Said I had it covered. I din’t think you’d care that much, ya know considering….”

“Oh my god, you know what she’s thinkin’ don’t you!?” Beth cringed; that embarrassed her more than him seeing her like this.

“But we ain’t doin’ anything, and I’m gonna be on the other side of the room. Can barely even see in here,” he complained as he walked further back. 

Beth made a face, the hot and flustered feeling gone. For a moment she thought he was going to just take her right there in the shower. ‘Well, that   
was….disappointing. Ugh, just forget about it!’ She yelled at herself. ‘He already laid it all out there, just stop thinkin’ about it!’

Daryl came back up to her in the shower next to her. She appeared lost in thought just staring straight ahead. “Hey,” he began, but she shrieked out in surprise.

Beth turned to him with a glare. “What the heck?!” She leaned over and shoved him with one hand, but also caught a glimpse that he was undressed. “You’re gonna give me a heart attack!”

Daryl turned on the water to the shower beside her, separated by small divider of tile wall only waist high. “You keep swattin’ at me, you’re gonna regret it,” he knew she’d just ignore his words anyway. “I was just sayin’ those other ones ain’t working. I’m not gonna to stare at you.”

The water pressure immediately dropped in half and Beth frowned. “Did you just come in here to tease me…or yourself?” She joked, but knew it would make him pause for a second. Curiosity gnawed at her if that was truly his intention.

“Yeah, that sounds like me, alright.” He deadpanned, and both of them just stared ahead awkwardly.

“Are things still gonna be weird between us?” She asked then paused at how ludicrous her words sounded. “Did I just ask that while we’re in the shower together? I might have hit my head when I passed out.” Her humor obviously did not amuse him as much as it did herself.

He leaned back his head and rinsed his hair. “Things are different, nothing can be done about that,” he said. “What if I was just to apologize for all that? Sad to say it took me thinkin’ you were bit or dead to realize I couldn’t leave it all like that. Better late than never right?” His eyes still looked away from her.

Beth smiled, happy with his words. She forgot what really mattered to her. “Well, as long as things go mostly back as they were before. That’s fine with me. Still, you didn’t have to come in here and make sure I was okay. You could have just asked Michonne.” She narrowed her eyes in suspicion and sneaked a peek in his direction. Something wasn’t quite right to her. She watched him run his fingers through is growing hair and her thoughts trailed off.

Daryl lied. Sure he wanted to make sure she was alright, but that wasn’t the main objective. He tried not to hate himself that badly for it. Conflicted with Beth and every thought he had about her, Daryl decided to go in there and take her. Just throw her against the wall; he knew she’d like it. ‘But you choked.’ His confidence wavered and he pussied out at the last second. He could hear Merle’s laughter in his head. 

“So?” She asked. 

Daryl looked over to her, distracted enough that he didn’t pay attention to what she said. “What?” 

“I said the showers are gonna be nice for everyone once the all halls get cleared. Could probably hang curtains or something for some sort of privacy.” He made a noise that she assumed was an affirming grunt in response. ‘The great conversationalist Daryl Dixon,’ she thought with a sigh. “Well, what do you think about Rick and Michonne?”

He furrowed his brow in confusion. “What are you talkin’ about?”

Her mouth dropped open, genuinely surprised. “Are you kiddin’ me? You see the way he looks at her when she leaves the room?” Beth smiled with an odd sense of achievement for being first. “Come on, you’re pretty observant on things, surely you noticed.”

“I don’t focus my time watchin’ Rick’s eyes on other people’s asses,” he said more defensively then he would have liked. He made a quick not to self to pay attention more if Beth spotted these things before he did. He eyed her warily. “You like spyin’ on people?” 

When he spoke with that teasing tone it delighted her as much as she didn’t want it to. “No, of course not. Maybe I’m just noticin’ a little more. I don’t think she has any idea Rick may be lookin’ at her that much.”

Daryl snorted. “Are you serious? I wouldn’t put anythin’ past that girl. She’s somethin’ else alright.” He regarded Michonne highly, and had a lot of respected for her even if he didn’t say it. ‘So instead of coming in here and fucking her like you planned, you’re chitchattin’ like girlfriends. Real fuckin’ smooth, Daryl.’ He questioned how long they’d been in there. 

Beth took a breath, and decided to just go ahead and ask. “You and Carol seem close,” she wanted to know what exactly their relationship was.  
“So?” He looked her dead in the eye with an imposing look. He wasn’t going to talk about Carol, especially not when he came in there to screw around with a much younger girl. The fact that he changed his mind on it started to make him feel a whole lot better. Carol was the last thing he needed on his mind. But instead he saw a slightly hurt look on her face.

Beth lost her words, temporarily dismayed and dropped the subject completely. His implicit response was enough for her not press further on. She tried to smother the slight jealousy, especially when she praised herself for never being that kind of girl. But it didn’t appear to be working. 

“Anyway,” she tried to regain the more upbeat atmosphere she just crushed by being too nosy. “I think they’d be cute together. But,” she paused and considered her options. Spitefulness won. “We’re friends again, right? Can we talk about things?” He was being weird from the beginning and she trusted her instinct. ‘And this is after he said we weren’t gonna do this anymore,’ instead of being excited and hot she internally huffed with vexation. 

“Wasn’t sure we talked a lot to begin with,” he said a little uneasy about what she wanted to get into. ‘And not sure I’d use the term friends…’ But kept that bit to himself. He wondered if he would have to drag her out of the shower at this point. ‘Why did I think I could do this?’ He already told her they could never do it again. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. ‘Is she washing her hair again?’

She used the sweetest voice she could muster. “Well, it’d be nice to talk to someone about this. If you’d have it?” She made sure to add on that little hint of permission that she knew he wanted. Beth prepared to stand there until either the water ran out if it meant she got an answer.

He gave her credit for trying to make it too tempting to not oblige. ‘That little bitch,’ he hated how easily she got to him. Did she really only have to utter a few words to get him hot for her? He was supposed to be the older one and in charge. But at the moment he felt he had zero control of the situation and that was a feeling he fucking hated. And it was only with women in general. 

“Are you even listenin’ to me?” She asked leaning over again, snapping her fingers by his ear. It was hard to hold back her smile when she was deliberately trying to rile him up.

“Yeah, whatever. What the hell do you want to ask?” He said irritably. “And you’re pushing it, sweetheart,” he figured that she was provoking him intentionally for a repercussion. Her determined yet overt persistence actually helped him regain his cool. 

“Well,” her voice was quiet and falsely coy as she asked. “Have you ever gone down on a girl before?” 

It took a second for his brain to process her words. If she wanted it badly enough that she was going through all of this effort to play a game with him, then who was he to deny her? ‘Oh, so she wants to play, does she? Dixon, don’t pussy out this time.’ He slipped easily back to his normal brash demeanor, giving her the outburst she expected from him. “Are you fuckin’ kidding me?” Daryl looked over to her. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“I just didn’t know if that was something most guys did.” She rinsed her hair for the countless time; her hands weren’t covering herself, so he had to fight to keep his eyes at her face. “Jimmy was kind of against the whole idea.” 

Her honest wide eyes made him think he was doing something with a naïve child and that didn’t help the turmoil in his head. If he didn’t leave now, he knew how this was going to end. 

“Can’t get a guy’s perspective on it just by goin’ online anymore,” she said lightheartedly, trying to keep it more funny than sexual. She was glad the light was so little that he couldn’t see her flushed and shocked face for actually having the courage to say it. ‘What am I doing?’ She chastised herself. 

“Well Jimmy’s an idiot,” the words were out of his mouth before Daryl realized what he was saying. He just insulted her ex- boyfriend that she admitted to blaming his group partially for his death. He immediately prepared to apologize, and expected another punch to his arm. 

Beth glared at him for his lack of tact, but let it slide. She wanted to avoid a fight. “I’ll take that as a yes then?” 

He rolled his eyes, but still thankful she didn’t go off on him for that slight. “Once. Are we done with this? And no more questions like that!” The exasperation in his voice was contrived. Now this was taking on another level of entertainment for him. Reading her cues for what she wanted and what she expected wasn’t that far off from hunting or tracking an animal. He got a kick out of being one step ahead of her, and savored it even more when she thought she was the one being cunning. 

“Well who else am I supposed to ask? It’s not like I can just look it up online,” her voice was gaining confidence in a sassy little tone that was challenging him. “Have you ever-“

“Beth,” Daryl cut her off warningly. Even in the low light his eyes locked with hers intensely. ‘Is she really going to do this?’ He watched the young blond try to fight her smile, and saw in her eyes deciding in her head what to say. She was cute, and that was the problem. Beth was young and cute one second and sexy and funny the next. Every time he thought she was too inexperienced and ignorant she’d display a strange amount of maturity and insight. And now he realized how much she reminded him of himself in that aspect.

Her heart was racing. Beth was beyond eager, she was giddy with excitement. She had to calm herself to speak. “Ever tie anyone up?” She couldn’t even feign an innocent facade at this point anymore, especially when her voice came out as breathily as she thought it sounded.

He gave her a smirk, before turning his head and turning off the water. She had the slightest hint of worry in her eyes, but mostly satisfaction that he anticipated abruptly replacing. “You about done?” He asked.

Beth felt a little let down, and was sure it showed. “Yeah, I guess so.” She let the water rinse over her face one last time, and reached for the knob, but was yanked backwards by her hair as Daryl wound his hand around the long wet strands and tugged her back against him.

“I was talking about that mouth of yours,” he said pulling her head back, making her body arch a bit with the angle. Her hands instinctively reached back, to catch herself, grasping onto his hips for support as a deep exhale escaped her throat. “D-Daryl,” she breathed out his name precariously. A tingling of anxiousness swept over her. “I thought-“ She was cut off being smothered by the palm of his hand over her mouth with water still in her face, making it difficult to breathe.

He pushed her forward against the small dividing wall between showers. “I’ll gag you with a dirty sock if you don’t shut up right now,” he put his lips against her ear. “Try and test me.” Daryl was on auto-pilot. If he focused on how natural and easy it all was he’d be bothered by it. “Do you understand?” He asked, fixing himself on just her. He felt her try to nod in his grip.

Her head was tilted back enough to see his eyes looking down at her, and water from his wet hair dripped onto her face. He let her stand straight, moving his hand from covering her mouth to her cute cheeks forcing her head to turn to the side.

“No, I never tied anyone up.” He said with a small smile watching her carefully for any sign of fear or discomfort at his controlling actions. 

She looked up at him apprehensively. He glanced down at her heaving chest before drawing his eyes back up to her startled face.

“Wanna hear how I spanked a girl?” The low tone of his voice mixed with his rural southern drawl, truly drew a breath from her. “You can answer that question.”

The overwhelming thought of him doing such a thing knocked her speechless for a second. “Yea,” she finally forced out, unconsciously pressing herself back against his wet body. Oh, what she wouldn’t give for him to touch her. 

“Put your hands on the ledge in front of you,” he said. “An’ keep them there.”

She stared disbelievingly in front of her after he removed his hands and experienced an unwelcome emptiness at the lack of his touch which she found distressing. ‘You really gonna do this?’ Beth asked herself, but her excitement didn’t let her pay any attention to inner doubts. She reached out placing her hands on the low ledge of tile, impassioned and yearning for whatever he was going to do. 

“There was this girl,” he began and she already felt a small chill from the lazy and almost bored way he spoke. “Young, too fucking young actually, and blonde,” he snickered at his words. “The dumbest bitches I’ve ever known were blonde.”

Beth wasn’t exactly sure if he was telling a story from his past or if this was a terribly cloaked metaphor. She still kept her hands in place and decided not to test his patience being disobedient, at least not for now. 

“Hell, I was old enough to be her daddy.” Daryl grasped her hips and pulled her back a bit. Her body resisted for a half a second before allowing to be manipulated as he chose and stepped into position. “She was a little tease, lookin’ all naïve and innocent, but I fuckin’ knew better.”

Beth turned her head to look back at him, still a little confused. “Keep your eyes ahead, girl.” His voice sounded so normal that the dichotomy of his voice, words, and actions made her brain work extra hard to figure out what the hell was going on. 

“She liked fuckin’ with me, just wanting me to get to my breakin point.” Daryl placed the heel of his palm on her back pressing her downward. 

Beth felt a little self-conscious being bent over in front of him, but was also pretty turned on. “Just to see if I’d really do it,” he hissed in her ear. She was tense and her knuckles white with pressure, pressing her lips together as he nudged her legs apart with his knee. 

Beth knew she didn’t have to do any of it. He was giving her ample time to say anything to stop it. Not knowing what he was going to do was making her nervous. She parted her lips to say something, but instead made a small ‘mmph’ noise as he proactively corrected her with a sharp tug on her hair. She shivered as now only cold water was being sprayed down, but it was more because of the thrilling sensation of what could happen. ‘There’s no way he’s gonna do it,” she told herself. This had to be another tease tactic and he was way better at this game than she was.

“But a girl like you wouldn’t be into anythin’ like that, right?” He asked. 

She stared straight ahead, gripping the ledge hard enough that she thought she might actually crack the tile. ‘Do it!’ She mentally screamed at him. His lingering was making her almost uncontrollably impatient.

Daryl took in her hot, youthful perfect body. He could barely wrap his mind around why she would want him. But she did, and just running his hand down her back to her shapely ass, he almost forgot what he was doing. She arched her back a little against his touch. “When I ask you a question I expect an answer,” he said sternly.  
“Yes,” she gasped out with more need in her voice than she wanted to show.

“Yes what?” Daryl wasn’t going to be easy on her. This was the best part.

She let her head fall between her outstretched arms with a frustrated sigh. “Yes, please, sir, Daryl,” she spit out any term he may want to hear. 

It wasn't in the tone he would have preferred, but Daryl decided to just ignore the pitiful answer, and get her on it next time. “I think I like seein’ you like this.” His hand made forceful contact with her ass and she cried out louder than either of them expected.

For Beth it was mostly by surprise, but she didn’t move from her spot. The burning sting from the slap felt like it radiated up her body. Part of her wished her arms were bound behind her back instead. ‘Oh god, what’s wrong with me.’

“Too much?” His low voice brought her back to reality. The question didn’t even shake the scene. She slightly shook her head. “Good.” That was followed by two harsher smacks, she only sharply inhaled, the pain made her lick her lips. The pausing was the worst part; she couldn’t tell when it was going to happen but she just didn’t want him to stop. The next few stung badly and she groaned a little, feeling more relaxed and running her tongue between her teeth, shifting her hips provocatively with her mind in a haze. 

Daryl enjoyed doing it more than he thought he could have, and definitely more than he should have. Her excitement and lust fed his. But there was no rush to get too heavy in one session. He came up beside her and pressed two of his fingers against her lips. Daryl held back a small groan when Beth needed no guidance to eagerly take them in her sweet warm mouth.

She was ready to do whatever he wanted. She trusted him completely. “Good girl,” she heard his words and only wanted to do more, swirling her tongue around them wishing it was his cock. But he pulled them out and she whined, but felt him slide them against her pussy. She didn’t realize how wet she was until she felt him glide effortlessly into her.

“Oh god,” she whispered. She had no idea she was that aroused, and heard him make a noise deep in his throat, a growl. Darly felt how much she wanted him, and Beth heard is hunger for her. His fingers sliding in and out of her made her let go of the wall and try to lean back. Daryl allowed her, but reached around and grasped the front her neck pulling her upright and back tightly against his chest. 

She closed her eyes tight; her high pitched moans feeling his fingers pump in and out of her while she ground herself back against his hard cock, and gripped his arm. He moved his hand from firmly encircling her neck down her wet, cold body to roughly squeeze her breast. She tightened her grasp, but he pulled back, sliding his fingers out of her. She needed him now and there was no way he wasn’t going to fuck her so she’d be fine.

“Get on the ground,” his gravelly and raspy voice was unrecognizable. She didn’t hesitate, as soon as her ass hit the cold wet tile, she was shoved back, with her head into the spray of frigid shower. She turned her head, spitting out water running in her mouth and nose a bit miffed he didn’t seem to care.

His hands spread her legs and she was shocked feeling his hot breath on her inner thighs. She leaned up on her elbows. “What are you doing?” She felt her body now unable to stop trembling from the chilliness of the water and wanting him so badly.

“What does it look like?” Daryl asked then raised his eyebrow at his incredibly gorgeous and quirky girl who was actually trying to squint to see through the spray of the water and the ill-illuminated room.

“It’s too dark to see,” Beth said smartly and yelped as he nipped the tender sensitive skin there. She wanted to yell at him for that, but dismissed it when his tongue slid between the folds of her slit. 

She made a strangled gasping noise at the soft feel of his mouth against her. Daryl watched her face go from unsure to complete compliancy. She was already soaking wet and he was already lost in her delicious taste. She let herself fall back, relaxing to him. He actually couldn’t help the small moan he made just tasting her in his mouth. She grasped his hair tightly when his tongue slid deep inside her fucking her slowly then circled languidly around her clit. She was going to get hypothermia, but she didn’t care. The chill now felt almost pleasurable in itself, it made her nipples hard and forced her to pay attention. Beth could feel the juices flowing out of her; glad they were in the shower. She rocked her hips in time with his tongue, her hands holding his head in just that place. She groaned, arching her back again, “I’m gonna cum,” she squeaked out, now trying to pull away from his mouth holding her orgasm back.

“Cum then,” he spoke against her.

“I want…you in me,” she was past trying to be shy and cute. “Please.”

“Too bad,” he said holding her legs so she couldn’t move them. “That’s for smacking me.” He was going to teach her a lesson even if it involved him being deprived. 

“Daryl!” She whined, twisting his hair in her hand, when his tongue darted against her clit again. “Oh!” she moaned, unable to fight him anymore, and pressed herself against his mouth. He felt her body tense and her nails in his scalp, but pulled himself just barely out of reach. 

“You’re gonna listen to me, right?”

“What? Yes, whatever you want! D-Don’t stop!” She was almost in pain from being brought to the brink twice.

There was something in thr desperate straining cry of her voice, that really made him hard. He couldn’t ignore that it just made him want to deny her of it completely. Something else he’d remember for later.

He barely had to do anything going back to her, and scarcely touched her before her cries got louder and she gripped his hair so hard he winced in pain. His hands slid under her ass helped lift her to him. He watched her while she tensed and came harder than she expected to wide eyed, mouthing some sort of soundless words, and soaking wet. It was the kind of orgasm you’d see from a lewd little whore on an amateur sex site. She fell back lying on the floor gasping for a second before lifting her head, pulling him up to her and yanking him down to her mouth. Doing so put them in the cold water stream but she didn’t care, she hungrily kissed him, tasting herself on his lips, chin and goatee. Her tongue attacked his mouth, while her legs encircled him. “Fuck me or let me get you off,” she said going to reach for his cock, but he caught her hand.

“No,” he said looking into her half-lidded eyes. She smiled at him, thinking he was joking.

“But I want you to cum,” she bit his lower lip with a purr in her voice. “I know you want it just as much as I do.”

Daryl smirked, “Then maybe you’ll listen to me better next time,” he said prying her hands from his shoulders and legs from his hips getting up. 

Beth stared up at him in disbelief and confusion at how he was just stopping and much she wanted him to finish. She watched him walk from her and dry himself off. Her brain did not compute. She slowly kneeled up and finally turned off the water, still not accepting his words because they made no sense to her whatsoever. She crawled towards him while he was distracted, and ripped his shirt from his grip with wicked smile. There was no way he’d turn her down now, not on her hands and knees. He wanted her bad, she knew it.

Daryl found her desperation pleasantly amusing and was fighting hard not to throw her back down on the ground. But just having that control over her made it easier to refuse her. “Get up, and get dressed. Already been in here way too long.”

“Daryl,” she whispered his name almost begging. “Are you serious?”

He gripped her upper arm hard and pulled her up to her feet, then took her face in both of his hands much gentler, pulling her inches from him. “You’re gonna to be good for me ain’t ya?” He asked.

“Uh huh,” she murmured. He noticed her almost too much in awe gazing at him that was bringing him to edge of discomfort. He didn’t realize he did that much a number on her; her hands sliding up and down his chest. “Whatever you want,” her words seemed almost slurred.

The depth that she was involved made him regain his senses. “Then do it,” he said with more firmness. He wasn’t sure she even knew what she was doing anymore.

“Yes sir,” she said biting her lip smiling then licked up his neck, before following his orders.

‘Oh fuck, what did you do to her?’ Daryl thought, helping her get into her clothes. “Are you okay?” He asked seriously.

“Huh? Yeah, totally.” She said still with a spacey lilt.

Daryl gave her a look as they were both now fully clothed and walked to the door where he picked up his crossbow. “Alright, hold the hell on to me, ok,” he said putting out his arm. “I can’t trust you more than three steps from me like this.” She held on to his arm, walking with him not really paying attention to anything, even her shaking from her shivering from being in icy water for nearly an hour.

They both shifted their attention to sounds coming down the hallway and stopped in their tracks, but heard actual human voices. Beth could recognize her sister’s voice a mile away, she and Daryl immediately separated. He called out to them so they wouldn’t mistake them for walkers. 

“Beth?” Maggie saw her sister and gave her a curious smile. “I didn’t know you were still down there.

Beth could only shrug, she was barely thinking straight. “Yeah, Daryl was keeping watch,” her smile was just a bit too happy.

“Well that’s nice of him,” Maggie smiled at Daryl, who could barely look her in the eye in response. “You apparently bring out the sweetness in him,” she joked.

‘Sweetness? If you only knew.’ Beth thought and felt like she was feeding something darker in Daryl and herself.

Glenn tugged on Maggie’s sleeve. “I thought you wanted to get a shower in,” he said, but his voice hinted at more than just showering. Beth and Daryl unknowingly and simultaneously rolled their eyes.

“You’re lucky to have the best bodyguard around,” Maggie said. Glenn slightly frowned at that and pulled Maggie past them.

“See you guys in a bit. Is there any hot water?” He asked.

Beth smiled, about to respond, but Daryl beat her to it. “Not anymore. She took too fuckin’ long,” he said giving her a look. She narrowed her eyes at him wanting so badly to have a snappy comeback, but her brain was still too fuzzy to come with something witty. 

“Beth you okay? You look a little out of it,” Maggie questioned in her big sisterly way. 

“Yeah, just tired. It’s been a long day,” she said back to her. “Have fun you two,” giving her sister a wink and saw her sister cringe in embarrassment.

Daryl was smart enough to grab Beth’s arm and drag her along. “Come on, Blondie, let them have their fun.” Leaving Maggie sputtering in the dark walkway with Glenn still trying to prod her along.

“So now what?” Beth asked as she leaned back into him. “Gonna not talk again for a month?”

“Did you like all of that?” Daryl asked looking down at her. 

“What kind of question is that? Of course, it was great,” she said smiling at him and halting in her tracks. “I still want to get you off.”

He laughed, yanking her back into step. “I know you do.”

“Why are you doing this? Aren’t you just torturing yourself?” She asked stepping in front of him, before they entered the main inhabited part of the prison.

Daryl smiled and it made her heart flip in her chest. “No, but I’m really liking how it’s makin’ you so needy. Didn’t think I’d like that sort of thing, but when I do want to cum I’m sure you’ll be wantin’ and waitin’, won’t you?”

Her eyes widened at the promise for more. But he was being a cocky bastard now, thinking she’d be on standby for him. “Fuck you, Daryl Dixon.” It would have helped if she even tried to mean it.

“Gonna have to wait on that,” he said and walking past her and through the gate, leaving it open for her to follow behind.


	8. Chapter 8

Beth didn’t have the luxury to wallow in guilt from her post-sex dopamine crash. Merle Dixon died. Her teenage, overdramatic guilt meant nothing compared to something like that. Not after she witnessed the torment and devastation on Daryl’s face when he staggered through the prison doors. No one knew what to do or what the hell even happened until Michonne put two and two together. Worried glances were exchanged, but no one did anything. Daryl shut himself off from everyone in the tombs. They argued about going after him, but no one followed. Twenty four hours later he emerged as if nothing happened. But something bubbled under his eerily detached demeanor, and they all turned a blind eye to it.

His usual brashness eased the group’s growing wariness, even though he appeared slightly more aggressive than before. 

“The next person who asks me how I’m doin’ or if I want to talk, is gonna get a fuckin’ arrow to the head, got it?” Daryl shouted and slammed the door behind him.  


Beth recalled the others’ relief. The laughter and comments that followed could basically be summed up as, “Oh that Daryl! He’ll be just fine!” Beth wasn’t so sure, her worried gaze had followed his exit. 

“It’s not like he’s gonna snap and murder us all in our sleep,’ Glenn said. “Seriously though, he’s been sort of like this before, remember Atlanta?” 

Beth wished she knew him then, because maybe that would ease her worry. Their paths never crossed that much normally, and she still had yet to work up the nerve to approach him. He acknowledged her when she smiled at him, but his eyes didn’t look the same. Something changed.

‘Not something. Everything.’ She exhaled slowly, and directed her attention back to the man trying to teach her something.

Beth and Rick sat side-by-side at the table. She watched him with lukewarm interest and finally raised her chin from her hand. Regretful for volunteering or not, she couldn’t be rude to Rick.

“First thing you gotta do is remove the magazine, pull back the slide, and visually check that it’s unloaded,” Rick slid the clip out and showed her. 

She nodded, but didn’t really listen. She really needed to talk to Daryl sooner than later. 

“Now depending on the model there are a couple different methods.” 

Beth stared at his hands, almost resigned to failure. ‘Alright Beth pay attention!’ She refocused, sat up straighter, and tried to mimic his movement with the gun in her own hand. 

“Rotate the barrel bushing clockwise,” Rick reached over to help her unmoving hands in her confused state. Her breath hitched at the unexpected contact.

She couldn’t deny he was a handsome man with gorgeous eyes. If he shaved he could pass for much younger. He needed to cut his hair though, as did every male living there. As far as she knew, scissors didn’t magically disappear off the planet. 

“Now this is important. The recoil spring plug and recoil spring are under pressure.” 

Even the most mundane words sounded so soothing to her ears in his accent. She wanted to close her eyes and take a nap.

“So you cleaned your first gun. Clear as mud?” Rick smiled at her with some pride. She had no idea why, he did 95 percent of the job. “I’ll check on ya in a bit, kay?”

The stack of small handguns looked daunting. She situated her low, side ponytail over her shoulder, rolled up her sleeves some more, and stretched her neck.

“Alright, let’s do this.” She chewed her bottom lip, narrowing her eyes as she carefully scrutinized the pieces. Beth whispered aloud to herself in thought. “Let’s see here…frame, slide, barrel…” The caked on carbon residue coated her fingers black. 

“Makin’ yourself useful?” 

Beth jumped with a small squeak, dropping everything in her hands.

Daryl casually took a seat on the tabletop next to her and shrugged off his crossbow beside him.

Her happiness to see him outweighed her annoyance. She took it as a good sign that he continued to play his favorite game of scaring her silly. “I’m always useful.” She decided to go ahead and get it over with. “Doin’ okay?” She held her breath, awaiting the fallout.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” He looked downward at her from his perched seat challengingly.

She felt physically small, and tried to figure out how he became suddenly more intimidating then she had ever seen him before. “Why wouldn’t you be?” She repeated and furrowed her brows, a little agitated at his tone. “I lost siblings too, I know how it feels.”

“Well, I ain’t you, so drop it,” his voice was ice cold. 

‘Everyone grieves their own way,’ she told herself. “Fine.” She brushed a loose piece of hair out of her face with the back of her hand. But she did wonder what the hell he came over for. She glanced over to his boot propped up on the chair beside her and noted the large deep scratch across the leather. They were worn to hell, and should have been trashed a while ago. She changed the topic since his only interest was watching her fumble with weaponry, and it was starting to unnerve her. “Why do you even still have those?” 

“They’re lucky,” he smirked. 

She smiled in surprise and at the familiar softness that appeared back in his face. That was something she never would expect Daryl Dixon to say. “How’s that?”

He leaned back on his arm. “When I went looking for Sophia and fell down that ravine.” Daryl grunted in annoyance remembering his weakness. “Was knocked out and woke up to a walker chewin’ on my boot.”

“Oh my God,” Beth’s jaw dropped horrified. Why was this first she heard of it? 

“Took care of that one, but there was another and I was out of arrows,” Daryl tried to sound casual and indifferent even when gratified by her growing wide-eyed wonder.

Beth vaguely recalled her father referencing the wound in his side from an impaled arrow. ‘There’s no way…’ She crossed her legs a little tighter.

“Had the yank the fuckin’ one that got lodged in me out to shoot the damn thing. Barely made it.” Daryl found a twisted contentment from her look of awe, and fed on it like a drug. He had to admit that story was pretty fucking impressive. ‘Probably could have even got Michonne’s panties wet.’ “All of that shit was your horse’s fault too.”

That simmered Beth down just a little. “Oh please,” she rolled her eyes, but began to let herself relax with him again. It was hard to do still strung out on how hot she got from the most badass story ever told. She questioned the abnormality of being turned on by someone’s near death experience.

Daryl reached into the pocket on his pants leg. “Found somethin’ in the tombs earlier. Thought you’d like it.”

Beth tilted her head in curiosity. ‘What on earth would he find down there?’

Daryl tossed a pair of metal handcuffs in front of her; they clashed as they hit the table’s surface. She stared at them, blinking a couple times before her cheeks turned pink. She nervously glanced around, flustered at his lack of discretion, and self-conscious from the unfamiliar predacious look on his face.

“We don’t have to do anythin’ like before again. You’re not gonna hurt my feelin’s.” Daryl noted her obvious discomfort, and he couldn’t lie. It felt good, a little too good to have the edge on her. 

Beth didn’t understand what happened to his reservations about sex, out in open no less. This strange new confidence and ego boost didn’t sit well with her. She wasn’t prepared to talk about sexual preferences, especially when her dad, sister, or anyone could walk right by. But she still felt compelled to answer. “I liked it more than I thought I would. Never really did any of it before.” She hated how that sounded so young, immature, and unsure. “Do you like that sort of thing?” She picked back up the half-assembled gun. It gave her eyes somewhere else to look. 

Daryl bit his nail and looked over his shoulder at what she was doing. “I wouldn’t have done it again if I had problem with it.” He sat up and eyed the room carefully; mildly annoyed he had to explain the obvious.

“You mentioned you did…that once before,” Beth forced the words out, not sure what he was looking for.

“You’re still thinkin’ bout that?” He looked at her curiously; his blue eyes hinted in amusement, with his hair brushed just above his eyes when he leaned forward. “Don’t want to scare you off or anythin’. At least, not yet,” his voice dropped out at the end.

Beth had no control over the situation, and had no idea how that suddenly happened. She could barely string a sentence together while Daryl was as sure of himself now as when he was killing walkers. Her skittishness shouldn’t make him made more brazen. Something was off. “I don’t need to hear bout…past experiences,” she lied, but her concern lay elsewhere at the moment.

“That so? Then I’ll just leave it your imagination then.” He looked her over with a smirk, his eyes moved to the handcuffs, then behind her to the empty cell.

Beth followed his gaze, and watched his eyes narrow in thought as he decided something. Her fingers tightly clenched the gun. ‘Oh no. No, please no,’ she thought desperately. ‘There’s no way he’d try something now….here.’ She knew she could say no, but she wasn’t sure deep down she wanted to. 

In her panicked and paralyzed state, Daryl yanked the gun from her grip. She involuntarily swiped for it back, but he swatted her hand away. “You didn’t set the guide rod back right,” he showed her the slide. “See? It ain’t rackin’ right.”

She couldn’t even follow the quick movement of his nimble, work-worn hands.

“Now,” he racked the slide and it moved completely forward, “it works.” Daryl handed it back to her.

Beth sat blinking with it in her hand, not sure what just happened. She looked down at it and pouted. “I could’ve figured it out,” she quietly muttered. ‘Does he have to be awesome at everything?’ It irritated and impressed her all at once. She couldn’t handle any more dichotomy of emotions.

“So where were we?” Daryl asked.

Carol carefully stepped into the room with a smile and looked to Daryl. “Hey, I was looking for you.”

Beth unconsciously sat straighter and pretended to go back to what she was doing.

“Hey.” The warmth in Daryl’s voice for a simple greeting made her pause. It didn’t shock her as much as the genuine gladness that appeared in his face to see Carol. “What are you doin?” 

Beth didn’t understand how he wasn’t even slightly annoyed and why she was. ‘Didn’t he just allude to having sex in this very room not even sixty seconds ago?’ 

“I wanted to ask a favor,” Carol crossed her arms and looked down with a small smile. 

Beth didn’t like her coyness. ‘Is that what I look like when I do that?’ But Beth hated her own cattiness even more.

“Well? Out with it then,” he gave her his undivided attention.

Daryl was so oblivious to Beth’s existence that she could have smacked him upside the head and he wouldn’t see it coming; that thought gave her a little bit of pleasure.

“It’s selfish, but I wanted to know if you’d take me on a ride. I want to stretch me legs a little and get out of here. What do you think?” Carol raised an eyebrow and gave him a sly smile.

“I can see that,” Daryl smirked.

Beth’s shoulders tensed. ‘You are not jealous.’ 

“Sooo is that a yes?” Carol smiled. It was pretty, clever, and a little flirty at the same time. Beth never saw that before either. Daryl rolled his eyes with a small smile.

“Of course.”

‘Who ARE these people!?’ Beth considered, for a second, that she was just dreaming. She struggled to portray disinterest when she dissected both of their minute facial expressions and voice intonations. 

“Give me a few minutes, kay? Meet you outside, and bring a coat, it’s getting cold.” Daryl stood up and lazily shouldered his crossbow. 

He knew how to make unhurried movements sexy. And Beth had no idea how she went from a nervous wreck who prayed he didn’t try anything to….this. She hoped it was a case of ‘you want what you can’t have’ syndrome. 

Carol looked to Beth. “Do you think you could keep an eye on Judith? She’s sleeping so shouldn’t be a bother. Can’t imagine it taking too long, right?” She winked at Daryl and he shook his head with a small snort of laughter.

The intimacy between them made Beth more uncomfortable then when she heard her parents have sex. She wanted to get up and leave, but silently nodded instead. ‘You just got put in your place,’ she thought.

“Thanks. Daryl, I’ll see you out front.”

Beth kept her head down, barely lifting her eyes to see him get up and walk to the doorway. “You got this, right?” He asked as if she was an afterthought.

“Yeah, of course, duh!” Her fake over-the-top attempt at a disregarding tone was comical even to her. It was the worst playing it cool moment ever. She noticed the handcuffs were gone, and assumed he pocketed them when he left. Her thoughts were so jumbled she didn’t know what the hell she was even doing anymore. Beth bent over and pressed her fingers to her temples in an attempt to quell the oncoming headache. She raised her head, saw her still filthy hands and realized she smudged her face with black residue. ‘Shit just got real, and now you’re babysitting.’ She felt shitty, and as if on cue, Judith started to cry.


	9. Chapter 9

It took a little while, but Judith finally gurgled contentedly in her U.S. mail tote that doubled as a baby carrier. Beth attempted to read a weathered copy of a book she found, but ended up staring at the same page for an hour while her mind tortured her. A sick feeling sat in her stomach. ‘So nice of you to watch the baby while they’re out on their date.’

There really was something between Daryl and Carol, but she wasn’t sure what it was. Beth liked Carol a lot, and if that was what Daryl really wanted then she’d deal with it. Hell, Carol had known him longer.  


‘Then why is he doing anything with me?’ Beth wondered what he even felt about her, if anything. There still was no rationale for what he was doing. She wasn’t dumb enough to think he was playing the both of them at once; he wasn’t that sort of guy. But something was weird. Whether she liked it or not, jealousy still brewed in her. ‘Nope. I’m not gonna be that girl.’ Beth shifted the negative emotions away from Carol, and pinned all her bitchy energy on an assumed dead woman she never met. ‘So take your mind off things by thinking of him with another woman. That makes sense.’  


Beth thought of ‘the woman’ he spanked before her. She couldn’t picture Daryl Dixon with anyone but the complete opposite of herself. Beth was sure under normal circumstances Daryl probably wouldn’t have even given her a second glance, and that made her irrationally resentful. Maybe he met this girl at a dive bar in a nameless rural Georgia town popular for making meth. A place only trailer trash and rednecks went and the air so thick with cigarette smoke you could barely breathe. She attempted to envision Daryl a few years younger than now, clean shaven, shorter hair, and more than likely so drunk he could barely stand. She was a tall blond with big boobs, short shorts and as country as you could get. The type of woman that got loud after a few drinks and hooted after taking a shot. She was the hottest thing in town, mostly because she miraculously didn’t get knocked up at thirteen, and the drug abuse had yet to etch into her face.  


‘Wow,’ Beth was shocked and disgusted at her own ruthlessness. She shook her head, disappointed with herself for getting enjoyment out of cutting down some poor nameless woman. ‘Am I that insecure?’  


“How’s Judith?”  


Beth looked up to see Carl walking up the stairs, and gave him a small smile. She looked over to the baby, “sleeping.” She wondered when that happened.  


“Want to play a round of cards with us? Think everyone’s in; should be fun.” He gestured downstairs with a hopeful look in his eye.  


It would keep her mind off things...again. “Sure!”  


Everyone gathered around the table and pulled up a seat. Carl set his baby sister and her box down in one of chairs beside him. 

Glenn shuffled the cards with a grin, and glanced around. “Where’s Daryl? Thought he liked poker.”  


Beth hesitated, but finally spoke up. “He went out with Carol for a bit.”  


“Aw, how cute,” Maggie smiled nudging Glenn, and dumped a jar of change into the middle of the table.  


Beth tried not to look so disheartened and took a seat between Carl and Michonne. ‘You’re just for sex in some sick kind of triangle.’ It was a ridiculous thought, or was it? ‘No one’s that broken...’  


“Daddy you gonna play?” Maggie asked. Beth was surprised her dad was okay with even the two of them gambling at all even if the money was worthless.  


“I’m gonna keep watch. You girls have some fun,” Hershel patted Beth’s shoulder and she gave him a smile.  


“Thanks, Daddy.” Beth helped Carl divvy up the money equally, and Rick broke out the case of beer they procured a few days ago.  


“So,” Michonne looked serious, already stacking her coins. “What’s the game?” It appeared they were in trouble.  
Rick passed the bottles out. “Sorry, it’s not very cold.” Maggie put her hand up in polite refusal. Beth didn’t share the same opinion on drinking as her sister and father did.  


“Daryl will be super pissed he’s missing out on this.” Glenn took a large swig then scrunched up his face. “Ugh, yep not very good warm.” He wasn’t going to let that stop him.  


Beth decided to go for it, “Can I have one?” She asked Rick with her sweetest ‘you can’t say no to me’ face she had.  


“Beth,” Maggie frowned. “Daddy wouldn’t be okay with it.”  


“He’s not even here,” she barely kept the annoyance out of her voice. If Carl could drink a damn beer then so could she. But Maggie shook her head no in response. She decided not to cause a scene. Rick and Michonne exchanged a glance and he left the table for a second.  


Glenn dealt out the cards. “Okay, first game is gonna be Texas hold-em.”  


Maggie groaned. “Ugh, you always pick that.”  


Beth fantasized blurting out how she fucked Daryl just to see the look on her sister’s face. Just thinking about it made her smile.  


“Because it’s the most fun,” Glenn drained half of his beer already.  
Rick tapped Beth on the shoulder and handed her a large red cup with a small wink.  


“Thanks,” Beth was pleasantly surprised when Rick handed her the beer just in a cup instead of a bottle. She hoped Maggie would be distracted enough to not notice.  


Rick sat on the other side of Michonne, and gave the swordswoman a smile. “You play before?” Beth leaned just a bit closer to eavesdrop on them.  


“Yeah, a bit.”  


Beth was glad Daryl was missing out. She clanked her cup to Carl’s bottle in cheers and drank with a spiteful smile.

Five beers later… 

“Oh yeah, this shit’s mine,” Michonne stood up to reap the winnings and pulled them to her growing mountain of nickels and pennies.  


“How did you do that?” Rick rubbed his forehead in amazement before he got up to get another beer. “Anyone need another?”  


“Me!” Glenn called out.  


Beth thrust out her cup to Rick for a refill. Apparently he lost count of how much she had, but that was fine with her. She hadn’t had this much fun in a long time.  


“Don’t go crazy now,” he warned her quietly.  


‘Too late for that,’ she thought. Beth passed her turn to Michonne since she was terrible at shuffling cards even sober and mostly clueless on the variations of poker anyway.  


“Game’s seven card stud, ante up,” Michonne smacked the table intimidatingly, but her smile still cracked through her badass front.  


“Niiiiiice,” Glenn called out. Beth suppressed her giggle. He took a couple shots earlier that looked and smelled like moonshine, and he now he was pretty wasted.  


With all the trash talk and raucous laughter Beth barely heard the metal door clang shut, and glanced over her shoulder. Daryl and Carol walked in. His arm hung around her shoulders like best buddies, or boyfriend/girlfriend, nicely ambiguous.  


Beth sipped the last of her beer, and paid them no attention. “Alright, what you got?” The alcohol was getting her surly.  


“Ugh,” Glenn groaned. “Pair of Jacks,” he looked over to Daryl and perked up. “Hey man, you were missing out on the fun.” He looked over to Carol. “Unless you weren’t…if you catch my drift?” The attempted wink alerted Daryl to Glenn’s level of inebriation.  


Beth blatantly rolled her eyes. She was getting dangerously close to the ‘I’m just going to say how I feel aloud and not care’ kind of drunk. Carol’s small laugh did not help.  


“How much did you drink?” Daryl asked leaning over and putting his hands on the table, highly amused.  


“Everyone can catch your drift,” Michonne said and looked to over to Rick. “No more for him,” then she gestured towards Beth. “Or this one.”  


Daryl’s eyes looked straight to Beth, sizing up how intoxicated she was.  


“Are we playin’ or not?” Beth tried to move the damn game along.  


“Gonna play?” Rick asked. “Michonne is wiping the floor with us.”  


“Any alcohol left or did ya’ll drink it all?” Daryl looked straight at Glenn.  


“There’s plenty, man. Take a shot or three and let’s get this going,” Glenn smacked the table with his hand.  


Michonne smirked and gestured to the empty space in front of him. “But, ya just lost the rest of your money.”  


Maggie pushed some of her paltry winnings to her boyfriend. “I’ll give you some of my money, babe. Daryl, you can have the rest,” she stood and stretched. “I think I’m gonna check on dad.”  


Rick passed Daryl a bottle of beer. “You in too, Carol?” Beth knew that she should not be bothered by it, but she was.  


“Oh, I’ve had plenty of excitement for today. You guys have fun,” she patted Daryl on his shoulder and gave him a smile. “I’ll take Lil Asskicker to bed.”  


Daryl sat directly across from her; she could feel his eyes daring her to look at him. She refused to be weak and had to play it cool and disinterested. What the hell did they do for so long anyway and did she really want to know?  


Daryl caught up to their drinking pretty fast and took off his jacket. A cigarette and a beer bottle expertly managed in one hand and cards in the other; he nudged Glenn with his shoulder and smiled. He couldn’t have looked sexier, it was physically impossible. Instead of being turned on, she was getting irritated by her attraction to him.  


Beth began to get warm with all the drinking. ‘Sure tell yourself THAT’S what making you hot.’ She shrugged off her sweater, and watched his eyes dip just south of her face. She wondered why considering she was just wearing a regular scoop neck shirt. ‘Well, I guess that’s something.’ Then she felt cheap for getting something out of his leer.  


Michonne tossed a couple nickels into the middle of the table. “I raise ya.”  


Rick glared at her and looked at his cards for the millionth time. “Damn it,” he gave Michonne a narrowed eyed look, but you could see his smile peek through. “I’m all in I guess.” He threw in the last he had. Carl was already out since the beginning, and bored out of his mind, stacking his money into an abstract art project.  


Daryl tapped the table in thought for a moment, “Me too.” Beth silently followed in suit, calling the raise.  


Michonne looked them down. “Show ‘em.”  


“Four 9’s” Beth anxiously dropped her cards. ‘That’s good right?’  


A round of male groans echoed off the walls.  


Michonne smirked. “Well, you got me,” she leaned back and showed her cards. It was a random mishmash of numbers and suits.  


Daryl leaned over, straining to see. “Are you kiddin me?”  


“Have you been bluffing the entire time?” Glenn asked.  


Rick gave Michonne’s shoulder a playful shove and she failed at holding back another smile. “I ain’t tellin’.”  


Beth bounced in her seat with an excited smile, and high fived Carl. “Yes! I won!” So much for trying to look calm and cool. She scraped in her winnings and glanced up to catch Daryl’s eyes for a second. He leaned forward with his arms crossed on the table; the short sleeved shirt he wore displayed one of his perfectly toned attributes. She really needed to start focusing on his flaws.  


“How ‘bout one more?” Daryl collected the cards with a smug smile. “Black jack.” He slammed down his empty beer bottle, and kept his eyes directly on her while he turned his head to take the longest drag on a cigarette possible. “You in, kid?”  


Beth exaggerated her disgust by fanning the smoke from her face with her hand. She knew what he was trying to do and she wasn’t going to fall for it. Still irked enough from earlier, she turned him down. “I Shouldn’t. It’s past my bedtime, isn’t it?” She looked him dead in the eye, crossed her arms and leaned forward; mimicking his cocky movement.  


He narrowed his eyes not even a little bit phased. In fact, he brazenly stared her down, melting away her alcohol-fueled courage. She picked up the same strange vibe from him from earlier, slightly ominous.  


“Well, maybe we should pick it up again tomorrow.” Rick announced. “I’m ready to call it a night too.”  


Beth didn’t dawdle around; she made a beeline right to her cell. Well, as best as she could since she struggled with walking in a straight line.  


Daryl followed her a few feet behind, until he realized he was acting more predatory than necessary. “So what the hell is wrong with you?” He asked. Beth turned around surprised, and then eyed the cell further down with some discomfort. Hershel’s was right next hers. Her vexation shouldn’t have made him even more confident, but it did.  


She composed her bold front again. “Nothing, I’m fine.” 

The words all women said when they were, indeed, not fine. Funny how she was so damn cautious around him now that they were alone. Whatever, he wasn’t there to play games. Daryl lowered his voice, and gripped her by the arm. “You know that skirt you wore a few weeks ago and those cowboy boots ya got?”  


Beth opened her mouth then shut it, the unexpectedness of his question made her pause. She tried to wrench her arm from his clasp; glancing around for other people. “Um, yeah?”  


“Wear ‘em, tomorrow,” he tightened his hold in response to her resistance.  


“Why?” She raised an eyebrow and gave an obstinate snarky little smirk.  


He rolled his eyes, impatient with her behavior, but she looked sexy as fuck doing it. “Because I told you to, you drunk little smart ass.”  


She faked pondering his question. “Maybe.” The blasé delivery coupled with the upward turn of her nose, incited him. If she wanted to go up against Daryl Dixon then he was going to give it her.  


He fisted her shirt with his free hand and pushed her back against the metal gate of the hallway. Daryl smiled when she swallowed the little cry of surprise, but the clash of metal was so loud everyone had to have heard it. “I ain’t taking ‘maybe’, Blondie.” He didn’t like her drunk. Not only did it make him unable to do what he really wanted to; it also just made her too fucking stubborn.  


She breathed out loudly, full of anger. It didn’t bother him much because of the hunger in eyes. He knew she fucking wanted more. The question was how far she was willing to go to get it and was he going to let her have it?  


“Are you just mad that ya lost?” She taunted, using all her fortitude to not back down, even though he had her pinned against the wall in a very public area. And good lord, she had that ‘drunk girl’ confidence boost. He was in trouble if she actually tried anything.  


“You’re just aimin’ to misbehave, ain’t ya?” He used his weight against her, adding his hips to so he could free his hands. Her little open mouthed silent gasp drove him further. “I liked you better when you were too scared to run your mouth. If you weren’t so drunk right now…” He slid his hands up her sides, catching the hem of her shirt and slightly pulling it up so his fingers brushed against her skin, never finishing the sentence. Daryl leaned in and murmured against her ear. 

“You’re gonna to pay for it later, kid.” He felt her body press against him when she arched her back, and couldn’t resist pinching her cute, flushed cheek with a deviant smile. “Now get to bed, and do what I fuckin’ said.” He abruptly changed his tone, and left without a backwards glance.  


Daryl swiped the moonshine when he walked past the table and back up to his cell. He took a large drink, and fought a cough at the heavily astringent taste. He fell down in his bed, letting his head fall back to his pillow. The only thing in his sight was the bunk above his; the claustrophobic sensation he had when they first arrived reared its head again. He pushed himself back up and threw the mattress to the floor in the middle of the room.  


Everything was fucked. That truly never hit him until Merle died. All of them were. He was fucked just like Rick, Carol, Beth and the rest of them. Carl and Lil Asskicker were fucked; and that bothered him more than he’d like to admit. Ever since he met these damn people he started to care too fucking much. And every time it bit him in the ass. He remembered back when he didn’t give a fuck. It used to be another death, another shrug of the shoulders, with an ‘oh well’ mentality. Now he was killing himself for these fucking people; even chose them over his own damn brother. And now there was Carol and Beth to deal with.  


Daryl stopped pacing, not even realizing he was doing it and forced himself to lie down. He ran both hands through his hair with a groaned. The decision to have sex, and keep having sex, with the Greene girl was one of the worst judgment calls he ever made. Because that made all the damn sense in the world. Why not slap another name to the List of People Whose Deaths’ Would Eat at Daryl’s Soul? He was being a dick to the girl, but so what? If she didn’t like it then she didn’t have to talk to him, hell that would make his life easier. He needed to keep that fucking distance. Sex was one thing, but anything more than that was a problem. It was bad enough he’d been thinking about sex excessively now. Since when was he a slave to Beth’s pussy?  


Daryl closed his eyes and draped his arm across his face. “Fuck. Me.” 

In the morning

Beth woke up semi-hung over and tried to figure out if she dreamt the last bit of the night or if it really happened. Her memories were a blur. She stared at the clothes she laid out on her bed. It wasn’t anything indecent, except it was getting chilly out, but it still terrified her to wear it for no good reason. ‘Denim skirt and cowboy boots. Guess he really is a Georgia boy.’ This was very different, to just obey some random command. ‘Why does this seem so dirty?’ She wanted to refuse, just to stick it to him, but she really wanted to do it to see what she got for pleasing him. God that sounded terrible. ‘Please him? Really?’ What the hell happened to her?  


Defeated, Beth exited the prison into the yard, feeling vulnerable and naked even fully clothed. It was one of those days that were beautifully sunny, but shockingly colder than you were expecting. The bite of the wind made it just unbearable to not want to be outside. She spotted her sister waiting for Glenn by the gate to unload some firewood and made her way down to her, glancing around for Daryl.  


Maggie shielded her eyes from the sun and looked her over. “You look cute today.”  


“Thanks,” Beth’s expression was pained; her voice quiet and shy. She shook off the paranoia that everyone knew.  


“Surprised you’d up since you drank so much last night,” Maggie said.  


Busted. “Oh, yeah...sorry about that.” Beth shivered and zipped up her purple jacket at the chill in the air. It didn’t help her bare legs.  


Maggie shrugged her shoulders. “You’re old enough to make your own decisions,” she looked at her. “Sometimes I forget about that.” Maggie laughed. “I mean you look like you aged 5 years these last few weeks.”  


“Is that supposed to be a compliment?” Beth asked with a grin and shoulder -bumped her. “If I aged five then you aged at least ten!”  


“Hey now!” Maggie playfully pushed her back and nearly into Daryl’s path.  


Daryl avoided the collision, brushed by her and glanced over his shoulder. “Kinda cold to be dressed like that.”  


Beth was impressed by his commitment to the game. Her eyes watched him walk away with that absurdly sexy strut. The fact that no one had any idea started to creep into her head a little more. No one would ever in a million years suspect it. Beth Greene and Daryl Dixon? Yeah right.  


“He’s so funny,” Maggie smiled and pushed some windblown hair out of her face. “Don’t you think he and Carol would make a cute couple?”  


“You think so?” Beth wasn’t sure why, but hearing about it wasn’t bothering her as much anymore. She kicked at a couple dried leaves that had blown their direction from the surrounding trees.  


“They’d be good for each other. You can tell there’s something going on there.”  


So it wasn’t just her. Everyone saw it. Did she really want to delve into amateur psychology based purely on a couple observations? She already did that numerous times, and it wasn’t giving her a good feeling.  


Beth went over to help Glenn unload some firewood from the truck bed and noticed Daryl bent over his bike nearby. She snorted now when she saw the angel wings on his vest. Secrets had some advantages. ‘This means he can’t do anything to me in front of people.’ Some power came back into her favor, and she jumped at the opportunity to abuse it.  


Daryl slowly leaned back up when he was jabbed in the back. The suddenness of it made him actually make a noise. “What the hell?” He turned his head.  


“Sorry.”  


Beth. She looked anything but fucking sorry. Her eyes basically said ‘That for the stupid wardrobe choice, ass.’ Then she walked by him as if nothing happened.  


Daryl raised an eyebrow at her audacity. ‘Little girl wants to play?’ Somehow he turned that angelic little girl into a manipulative little attention hound. It was satisfying and yet annoying at the same time. Her sweetness attracted him in the first place. But he got a sick pleasure out of how he turned her into this little wildcat, especially when he got even more out of subduing her. He just had to wait until the right moment.  


Beth grasped the railing tightly, and took a shaky breath. She had to pause to let the sudden rush of adrenaline ebb from nearly breaking her neck.  


Fact: Cowboy boots have zero traction, especially on surfaces like smooth concrete. This revelation had become very apparent to Beth after she slipped and nearly fell for the umpteenth time.  


“Maybe you should change into a different pair of shoes,” Hershel worried for his youngest daughter’s safety at this point.  


Beth laughed it off. “Oh it’s fine!” While internally, she seethed. ‘That man just wants to torture me. He’s a damn sadist.’  


“It’s alright Beth, I got her,” Carol swooped in, picking up Judith, and correctly decided not to let her carry around a baby wearing that choice of footwear. “Poor thing is going to kill herself,” she said to Daryl.  


Daryl withheld his chuckle beside her and waved a little stuffed animal in front of Judith. “You won’t make poor decisions like that when you’re older, will ya?” 

He asked the baby just loud enough so that she heard it.  


Beth glared at the both of them. ‘I’m not a damn cat toy to be batted around!’ She got the feeling she was just there for his entertainment, and with Carol next to him it seemed even worse.  


Daryl looked over to her and a terribly evil idea came to him; it got him heated just thinking about it. Doing it would be so bad, but he couldn’t fucking resist.  


“Get your ass over here, girl,” he shouted out to her. He saw her surprise at his resonant call. Beth reluctantly walked over to where he and Carol were seated. 

“Closer than that, come on now.” She took two tiny steps closer. He felt like he was coaxing a fucking bunny. He handed Carol the baby’s pacifier and when she leaned away to put it into her bag, he slid his hand up Beth’s skirt and gave a slight tug on her panties. She tensed and jerked back with fear. “That ain’t gonna work,” he said looking up at her.  


Beth nervously looked over to Carol, who was no longer distracted. Great, now she had both of their attention. Beth thought she knew what he meant, but he didn’t tell her not to wear underwear.  


“Take em off,” he leaned back and crossed his arms, staring at her.  


He didn’t have to call her out for it publicly, but she supposed she could go back to her cell and do it. ‘Maybe he shoulda been clearer.’  


“Off,” he pointed to the ground. “Now.”  


“W…what?” That couldn’t have been right. He had to be joking, but she saw nothing but his cold glare.  


“Didja hear me?” He said it loud enough that Maggie looked up from her lunch and paused flipping through a very old gossip magazine she found. “I ain’t fuckin’ around.”  


"I...” Beth panicked. She couldn’t think of anything except just running away, which she was about to do.  


“Or do I gotta do it for you?” He leaned forward looking intent on going through with it. “I’m tired watchin’ you amble around like a wounded turkey in those fuckin’ things so take them off before you break your neck.” His eyes went from her boots to her face; the mirth in his eyes chilled and heated her.  


Beth was not a violent person, but she never wanted to smack someone so much before in her life. Her brain was too clouded in rage to do anything but take off her boots. If she could have thought straight she would have yelled at him or at least kicked them off in his face. Oh, she wanted to do something bad. She crossed her arms, wishing she had the power to murder people with her sight.  


“Now pick em up and go put on something normal. Jesus Christ, ain’t you old enough to dress yourself?”  


She was scarily calm, even to herself and picked up her shoes silently, before walking back to her cell.  


“Daryl that was mean,” Carol pursed her lips disapprovingly. “You’ve been rougher than usual with her lately.”  


“Yeah, I should probably go apologize.” He got up and took his buck knife with him.  


Daryl was prepared; he knew she was fucking pissed off, but it was worth it. Her back was turned to him as she violently rummaged through some of her things on the floor.  


“You know I’d-“ Beth’s head snapped up and Daryl quickly dodged a cowboy boot that came frighteningly close to hitting him in the head. “Damn, sure got an arm on you,” he expected the other and barely sidestepped it. “Stop throwin’ shit at me, for fuck’s sake!”  


Oh, she was seething; Daryl never saw anger like that from her. It radiated from her in waves, and he started to really feel bad. “I was sayin’ I’d never do that to you out there. I thought you’d realize.”  


“No you didn’t,” Beth hissed. “That’s what you wanted. And with Carol right there?” She looked disgusted. “You made me look like an idiot!” That was what really pissed her off.  


“Thought that would’ve clued you in. I mean, come on. What the hell do you think of me?” He looked a little insulted.  


“How am I supposed to know what kind of weird thing you have going on? I don’t know if you had some sort of dysfunctional….threesome, thing or whatever.” Beth waved her hands in frustration.  


“What?” Okay, now she was talking crazy. Rage did that to people, and Daryl knew a thing or two about that. “First of all, I’m sorry, alright? Now just calm down a bit, cause you ain’t makin’ a whole lot of sense.” That was a mistake…  


“You’re the one not making any sense!” She blurted out, jumping to her feet. “Are you kidding me?”  


“Alright,” Daryl put his hands up in defense, trying not to laugh at her spaz out. She looked damn cute all riled up. “Calm down. Note taken. Don’t fuck around in public. Ain’t your thing.”  


Beth squirmed at the thought. “Maybe if my family wasn’t here. Why? Do you like that sort of thing?” She was still huffing with anger, but now distracted.  


“Do I like it? Can’t say I’ve done anythin’ too much.” Daryl was relieved at the turn this was taking. “So what do you like then?” He asked. “I have no idea what you want. All I know is you like having your ass slapped.”  


Beth blushed; she hated talking about this. “I like when you’re…in charge. And I think, maybe rougher?”  


He crossed his arms. “Care to elaborate?” Her vagueness basically told him nothing.  


“No,” she wrung her hands in embarrassment.  


“For wantin’ me in charge you sure as hell don’t follow directions well. Can’t even answer a damn question.” He leaned back against the wall. She had to be mistaken on the definition of ‘rough’ and he’d have to set her straight. “Hair pullin’ and that sort of other shit we did is pretty damn light. Rough can mean throwin’ you on the ground, slappin’ your face, choking’ you, fuck, even spittin’ in your mouth then callin’ you a stupid slut. That sound like what you want?” He looked her over like a cocky ass, trying to freak her out with the most hardcore shit he could think of.  


“N-no,” she said a little stunned at his words. Except that it gave her a rush hearing it. So much so that she couldn’t help herself. “I wouldn’t like the callin’ me stupid part, and I’m kinda on the fence with the term ‘slut’.” Just taking a moment to imagine Daryl doing those things to her made her lightheaded for a second. 

“Anyway,” she took a second to get her head back from fantasy land. “So what about you, anything else?”  


Daryl actually was taken aback at her statement, and convinced himself she was joking. “So insulting your intelligence is your limit. I’ll keep that in mind.” He couldn’t even picture himself doing anything so extreme to her…well he didn’t until she just mentioned it. His smile went a little dark. “I know I like fuckin’ with your head.”  


“I don’t…understand,” her wariness returned, and the last traces of her anger vanished.  


“I got you to think I’d really make you take your clothes off in front of everyone. And you thought I’d actually do it if you didn’t listen. Did you know how hot that fuckin’ was or what I had to stop myself from doing just comin’ after you?”  


There was a war within her between fear and excitement again. It made her heart thud in her chest. She was going to end up dying early from heart issues if not by walkers. God, how did he make her feel so wanted and so fucking pissed off? She was supposed to still be mad. This wasn’t the first time he played with her head like that.  


“You can’t just do that to me,” she tried to regain her confidence, looking away from him and straightening the stuff she threw around minutes ago.  


“I know,” he stepped closer. “But you didn’t answer me. D’you want to know?”  


Beth narrowed her eyes. “No.” She wasn’t going to give him the pleasure of winning that one.  


“So now you’re refusing out of spite?” Daryl looked surprised and impressed. “How bout I show you instead?” He licked his lower lip, knowing she’d give in.  


“Fine,” she defiantly crossed her arms, as if she was forced into doing it.  


“You trust me, right?”  


Beth wished he asked that when he didn’t look so fucking sinister. “Yes, of course,” and gave him a sly smile. “Gonna give me a reason not to?” She tried to shake him up by changing the tone to something more upbeat.  


“Turn around.”  


“Ugh why?” She rolled her eyes and turned.  


Daryl’s patience was waning. She had to make a big show of being so fucking inconvenienced, didn’t she? He didn’t feel bad when he gripped the back of her neck hard and threw her forward into the mattress; she barely had time to catch herself with her hands. He stood behind her; using just enough pressure for her to get the idea not to fight him.  


“Don’t. Move. That’s not an ‘I’m fuckin’ around’ command.”  


Beth held back a squeal. This did not look good if anyone was to walk by with her ass up and him over her. Something cold slid up her leg, she yelped at the contact then froze when she figured out what it was. “What?!” she hissed.  


“You have no idea how fuckin’ hot that made me,” Daryl swiftly slid his knife with the blade flat against her leg, up the side of her outer thigh between her panties and sliced the fabric neatly off. She tensed, and squeaked. “But I think this tops that,” he did the same to the other side. Her hands fisted the sheets she was pressed into. He sheathed the blade and straightened himself, finally letting her up. She immediately pushed herself up and spun around, her face red and completely…he had no idea what that look was.  


“You jerk!” Beth shoved him hard enough that he had to take a step. Daryl’s back hit the wall when she suddenly jumped up on him. He barely had time to catch her; shifting her up to get her legs more securely around him as Beth crushed her lips to his; viciously kissing him. She growled into his mouth as one of her hands painfully fisted his hair. The sound of approaching footsteps stopped him before he could even start. He grasped her waist and physically pushed her from him; she refused to stop so he had to use more force and nearly knocked her on the ground as Hershel walked up on his crutches.  


Beth fixed her pony tail, and ran a hand down her skirt to make sure everything was covered. “Hi, Daddy.” It would have looked better if she wasn’t panting so hard.  


“Anyway, just wanted to apologize for yellin’ at you before. You know, we were just worried an’ all, “Daryl seemingly amped up his accent and quickly walked out past her dad.  


Daryl was surprisingly thankful that Hershel came by, cause he probably would have fucked her right there. So now he was horny as a fucking high school kid again, and done with the all the teasing bullshit for now. That damn girl did something to him, because he didn’t get nervous or hesitant around her like he used to.  
Even hours later, he couldn’t look at her without filthy thoughts racing through his head. She looked away from him, sheepish after she lunged at him earlier, but it was time to get shit done. It just involved him walking over to Rick and mentioning a rematch poker game in passing, then to Glenn and Michonne. That was after he got out the moonshine and offered them shots. Daryl took one and passed on the rest.  


“I’d play too, but I gotta take care of some shit. I’ll be back later if anyone asks.”  


“Going out for a bit with Carol?” Glenn asked.  


“What? No.” Daryl gave him a bewildered look, but saw Beth and quickly came up behind and pulled her aside. “Meet me upstairs in five minutes.” He sounded impatient, but his controlled assertive smile contradicted that.  


After dinner, Rick and Glenn announced their poker rematch with the sole purpose of redeeming themselves from their embarrassing loss. Beth sneaked upstairs sick with nervousness, looking around. She didn’t like that she could still see out into the exposed area below, meaning anyone from the ground floor could see her with an upwards glance, unless she was in the back of one of the rooms. There weren’t a whole lot of legitimate reasons for her to even be up there.  


She slowly glanced into each small compartment, until she was pushed from behind into Daryl’s cell. He yanked her arms behind her back, and Beth reluctantly didn’t fight back. He snapped on the metal pair of handcuffs, and she tried to look behind her, feeling trapped. “We’re going to do this here?” She whispered. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Daryl’s cell was one of the first ones anyone would see, and it wasn’t like there were any doors.  


Beth panicked when a bandanna whipped over her mouth. He tied it tightly around the back of her head and shoved her against the cinderblock wall, next to his bed.  


“Didn’t ask what you thought about it,” he said looking into her pretty anxious eyes, with her cheek pressed flush against the hard wall. “Now listen to me very carefully,” he pushed up against her and she made a small muffled noise. “Any time you want to stop I need to hear you say ‘uh-uh-uh’.”  


It was the scolding you’d say to a toddler when they disobeyed. She made a high pitched noise of protest, and he growled against her ear. “Say it now.”  


“uh…uh..uh.” Oh fuck, it was embarrassing.  


“Good girl. Don’t be stupid about it, and say if you got to. Understand?”  


She nodded, and felt his rough hands yank up her skirt to her hips and cried out. It was terrible how good it felt to be not in control.  


Daryl loved how easy she was to please. It only fueled his confidence, he liked to tease her, and taking her to the brink. There was something he was very good at; he just never felt very comfortable doing it to the few girls he was with. But he knew Beth would fucking love it. “Just knowin’ you had nothin’ on underneath,” he said against the back of her neck, pushing aside her blonde hair up in a cute ponytail. “I wanted to pull you into a corner to feel how fuckin’ wet you were for me.” His hand gripped one of her inner thighs and pushed her legs wider.  


“God, you have a fuckin’ hot little body,” he whispered, running his hand down the back of her neck, as the other ran his fingers over her slit, of course she was soaked. He ran his tongue up her neck to her ear. “Damn girl, you wantin’ me to fuck you that bad?” She fought her eyes from rolling back but still shuddered. Yeah, he could talk dirty like no one else. His fingers slid barely into her then pulled back and he looked her in the eye as he sucked her cum off them.  


Fuck yes, she did. His terribly sexy voice, pulled an octave lower saying nasty things in her ear was getting her more aroused and faster than anything physical she’d ever felt. Beth pulled against her bonds, beginning to like the feel of the struggle. She was deaf to the conversations of the others downstairs even though they could be heard clearly up where they were.  


Daryl gripped her hips; she arched her back waiting for it, and after several agonizing seconds made a soft noise. But he was going to make her wait. She opened her eyes, narrowing them at him as he just sort of smirked at her. “Wuh?” She asked, and worked her mouth around the cloth so she could speak semi-clearly if needed.  


“I want to hear you.”  


Beth shook her head. There was no way she’d beg.  


He yanked her hair back by her ponytail. “Then I’m not fucking you.” She made more noises, but he kept her in place not doing anything. She finally out a stifled ‘please.’  


“Please what?” He asked, not even hiding his smile. Beth could not get over how much enjoyment he seemed to get from this.  


She felt his cock against her and she couldn’t even stop herself from trying to push herself back to him. Of course he wouldn’t let her.  


“Please sir,” she was getting better talking around the scratchy cloth in her mouth. She was too busy complimenting herself on that skill when he pushed into her and she cried out forgetting how good he felt inside of her, and his size apparently.  


“You like it don’t you? Tell me how much you like this you lil cocktease.”  


She was still recovering from the entry, opening her eyes and, fuck, the way she was pinned she had to look at his smug face. But just hearing his deep breathy taunts got her more impassioned and pushed herself back to him. The angle was the worst for her, especially handcuffed, but that didn’t matter. The gag just seemed to do the opposite of its intent. He thrusted harder and she let her sound be cut down by the barrier over her mouth; she loved being able to just let herself go, if anything it brought her a strange sort of comfort to enjoy herself. 

“I’m still waitin’ for an answer my hot little slut.”  


She stiffened at the term, because degrading names never sounded sexy….until Daryl called her a slut. She was so anti-name calling that it bothered her how aroused it made her more than being okay with being gagged and handcuffed. Beth didn’t fucking care this point. She shook her head, going to do it the hard way. 

Beth finally could hear voices downstairs, and knew how bad the echo was with cinderblock walls.  


“So you don’t like it? Want me to stop?” Daryl slammed into her harder. “Cause I’m gonna if you don’t answer me. Even as much as I love fuckin’ your tight pussy.” He pulled her head back to look at him with her ponytail forced to look into that rugged, goddamned gorgeous face.  


He let go of her hair with her lack of an answer, and shoved her hard against the wall again.  


“I want you to say it. Come on you always run that sweet lil mouth of yours. I’m lettin’ you talk.”  


The way he talked to her and his roughness just made her want more. She could do this all night.  


The baby’s sharp wails echoed startlingly throughout the whole prison. Beth thought that was ruined, and attempted to move, but Daryl’s hand kept her still. 

She made a questioning noise looking at him.  


“Quiet,” he whispered. “You ain’t goin’ anywhere.”  


“Can you grab a bottle, should be one upstairs,” Carol’s voice called out.  


“Yeah, no problem,” Carl ran up the stairs, the metal clanged loudly against his boots. “Anyone see Beth?”  


“I dunno. Haven’t seen Daryl around either, wonder if they’re outside,” Maggie said.  


“Cold to be outside,” Glenn said with a slur. Obviously he was drunk again.  


“Got it,” Carl said his voice only a few feet from them. Beth’s panicking breathing was getting Daryl annoyed.  


For fun Daryl thrust into her unexpectedly deeper than he had been. She impressively only sharply gasped, but gave him a glare.  


“Those two are a weird pair to be anywhere together,” Glenn said.  


“You in or out?” Michonne attempted to refocus back on the game. Both Beth and Daryl shared a look for a moment and wondered if she knew what was going on.  


“Maybe we should ask her to join in?” He whispered with a smirk to Beth, she returned it and struggled just so he’d tighten his grip.  


“I think she sees him like an older brother or something. He mentors her. I think it’s cute.”  


Daryl scoffed. “You’re sister is an idiot.”  


She would have laughed if not for the whole terrified of getting caught thing.  


He pulled out and turned her around, pulling the bandanna down to her neck. Beth took a breath, but only had a second before his lips kissed her hard and pushed her back against the wall, with her arms still stuck behind her in the cuffs. It was difficult to make out properly without the use of her hands. Daryl didn’t seem to care and lifted her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist. She bit her lip and pressed her head back against the wall as he filled her again.  


“Oh god,” she whispered the words and licked her lips looking back at him.  


“You never answered me, little slut,” his hand pat her cheek, with barely a soft slap, and a twisted smile.  


A shot of pure arousal and lust coursed through her. “I’m not a slut,” she growled against his lips with new vigor. He was very turned on by how well she could rock herself to keep pace with him, being in the awkward position that she was in.  


“Don’t make me gag you again,” he said warningly. “The only words I should be hearin’ is ‘please’ and ‘sir’, got that?”  


“Do it again,” she squirmed in his grip, needy. Now briefly out of character for the scene.  


It took a second of thought for Daryl to figure out what she wanted. Gagging her, calling her a slut, being so damn gleeful about it instead of fake angry? “Need more than that,” his voice was normal, calm and quiet a sudden change from a second ago.  


She didn’t want to say it, because it would be damning.  


“I ain’t a mind reader, you got to tell me,” he kissed the spot between her ear and neck.  
The change in tone of everything was surprisingly erotic. She softly moaned; her neck was one those spots that just made her knees weak. He made each thrust torturously slow for the both of them, and kissed down to the collar of her shirt. That’s right, why the fuck were they dressed? Her clothing hindered his continuation.  


“Tell me,” he lightly nipped her skin. Daryl’s hands slid up the sides of her body, not gently, but firm and owning.  


“I-“ She paused in fear. Daryl moved his mouth back up to hers. His demanding lips kissed her deeply and painstakingly slow. His ran his fingers against the sides of her head. Something in her heart flipped and lightheadedness enveloped her. It felt like he was inside her fucking head.  


As soon as Daryl saw her eyes he knew he could literally do anything he wanted with her, and she’d blindly follow his instruction. He wrestled with the kind of rapey vibe it sent through him.  


She was in another headspace, and that place didn’t give a fuck who was around. “Daryl,” she moaned out his name.  


Now that was something to worry about. “Shhh,” he was going to have to shut her up for real. She still insolently moved her head just enough to make it slightly more of an annoyance to force back the gag in her mouth. At least that told him she was still aware enough. “Remember what I told you if you want it to stop,” he said. His voice so much huskier than before, and she was ten times more wet now, her thighs were slick. Even using the wall for leverage he wasn’t sure he could keep up the position. He wasn’t that fucking young anymore.  


The noises she made were muffled, but they still echoed, as sound tends to do. She writhed and shrieked with her eyes closed and head back. He had to slow it down and check on her. “Beth, baby look at me,” he said. She opened her glazed eyes. He looked concerned. “I don’t know if I should be fuckin’ you right now.”  


Her eyes flashed something dangerous. She didn’t care if she didn’t finish, but there was no way in hell she was going to let him just stop without release.  


“Whoa there, princess. Then you still need to keep it down. Christ I’ll end up smothering you with a damn pillow.”  


She panted, forgetting that she had enough control to not be so unbidden. She used her shoulder against the side of her mouth to maneuver the gag enough to speak semi-clearly. “You can take it off. I’ll be good.”  


The desperation in her voice began to shift it back the other direction. He stopped thrusting into her as cautiously. “I didn’t hear you, baby.” He yanked it down and ran his fingers through her hair.  


“Please, sir, I’ll be good,” she said.  


He pulled her head to his with a crushing kiss, which was more pleasurable to her than any sex at that moment. She mewled into his mouth, as if she could drink him in. She loved him for that moment.  


Daryl pressed his forehead against hers, his breath ragged and his grip so hard on her hips it hurt, but she loved it. He slid into her so perfectly, something changed with the angle and she felt her breath catch each time.  


“God, you’re so fuckin’ wet. You want me that bad, you little bitch?”  


She made a noise in mild displeasure with the term, but gasped again in surprise, she was going to cum.  


“You’re so fuckin’ gorgeous,” he hissed against her neck.  


“Uh,” she threw her head back, now wanting the gag back; she didn’t expect to be able to get off in this position at all. She wanted her arms free to grab him, and her clothes off. She needed him to stop talking it was affecting her. The going back and forth between rough and soft, insult to compliment, it overwhelmed her. His stupid fucking mind games that he was so amazingly good that.  


“You can’t help it can you?” His whispered words sounded too cunning to be from someone fucking her. It was far too controlled. Beth was so deep into it she could barely hear him. She shifted her hips almost violently, so close gasping with sweat on her brow, her lips pressed against his neck.  


“Remember how I let you cum last time and I didn’t?”  


She gasped again, unsure what he meant.  


“I’m thinking about being really mean right now. But you’re gonna be a good girl right? You’re not gonna cum.”  


She whined. If he kept fucking her, it was going to be too much and she couldn’t just use some random thought to make her better. “Daryl.” He slowed his pace, making it even more excruciating for her. He wasn’t going to just deny her. “I’m sorry, please,” she apologized hoping it would help her out.  


His hot and hard breathing weren’t helping either. The sound of his approaching orgasm just got her hotter.  


The more desperate and needy she was the hotter Daryl found it. “Can I please?” She didn’t know why she was so pathetic.  


“Did I ask if you wanted to?” He could barely string the words together.  


Oh that just made it worse. Never in her life could she not stop herself from cumming or on the verge of tears, in a very good way. Was this what Carol couldn’t give him? What he couldn’t even begin to ask someone like her? Was this what she was going to think about to try stop her orgasm?  


“What do you want?” He grabbed her face, and closed his eyes for a second, restraining his own moan.  


“Everything,” she whispered back. It was true at that moment. Everything he’d give her she’d take. He smiled an, honest to god, genuine and beautiful smile for only a couple seconds, before he was fighting himself from finishing.  


“Fuck,” he didn’t try to hide how good it felt. Beth arched her back forcing herself back onto him hard. He grasped her head, and spoke against her lips. “Cum for me, sweetheart.”  


Being denied for a decent period of time then allowed to climax was something she never experienced before. Beth came with a swallowed cry, and had to bite his shoulder to keep quiet enough. He gripped her hair with his lips against her forehead, and ground his teeth loud enough for her to hear, hissing some unintelligible curses.  


“Oh god yes,” she whispered affirmations against his skin hearing him cum. It had to be hard to do that standing and keep her up all on his own; her legs were pretty much useless.  


Daryl slowly let her down, and caught his breath. His arms were tired, but was sure hers were just as bad or worse.  


“Hey Daryl? You're up there, right?” A slurred voice and numerous footsteps ascended the steps.  


“Stay calm.” He whispered in her ear as he quickly fixed his pants. She stared at him barely able to stand or think; he tugged off the bandanna, pulled down her skirt, and smoothed back her messed up hair.  


“Um, forgetting something?!” Beth panicky whispered while motioning her bound wrists.  


“What?” Daryl called out, trying to not sound winded. He gently pushed Beth back against the wall, so it looked like she was just leaning there innocently with her hands in her back pockets.  


Rick walked in a bit more drunk than he probably realized. Carol came behind and grasped his arm. “Rick you need to get to bed,” she advised.  


“Yeah in a sec,” he waved her off and staggered over to Daryl and put his hand on his shoulder. “Daryl, we need another game to play, somethin’ I can beat her in.”  


“What the hell are you doin’ up here?” Daryl and Beth were both completely surprised at Michonne’s voice. When she stepped into view the samurai goddess looked at the two of them and inhaled sharply.  


“Beth, what are you doin up here?” Rick asked just noticing her and happy that she happened to be there. He took a step in her direction, but Daryl kept him in place.  


“Uhhh… just hangin’ out.” Wow that was so terrible that Daryl and Michonne shook their heads in unison.  


Rick looked back to Daryl and talking to each of them as if they were the only person in the room. “She’s the sweetest thing.”  


Michonne knowingly looked to Carol. “Help me take him to bed.”  


“Sure thing.” Carol said goodnight to Daryl and he nodded with a smile.  


Beth was still in a daze when Daryl unlocked the handcuffs and her hands were free, but her arms ached. His strong hands grasped her sore shoulders and massaged them so nicely that she just wanted to fall asleep, it felt so good.  


“Probably need to go to bed,” he said.  


Beth didn’t want to move, but pushed herself upwards. He attempted to help her, but she stepped away. “I got it.” She stood, but he ignored her refusal and took her arm.  


“I’m at least walkin’ you back.”  


So it was extra awkward for her to say goodnight. She felt all words leave her, but he pulled her to him and kissed her forehead. It was something she had become to really like. He let her go and muttered a soft, “Night.”  


Beth collapsed in bed not even bothering to change her clothes. It was amazing, incredible and the greatest sex ever with someone she really liked and found incredibly attractive. So….why did she feel so fucking empty? She was on the verge of tears; not guilt filled ones, but confused ones. Beth pulled her blanket up, and curled her body, hugging a pillow. She never cared about sleeping next to someone before, but now suffocating loneliness was all she felt. She’d never be able to just lie next to him and fall asleep. He wasn’t interested in anything other than a completely sexual relationship. She sniffed and ran a hand over her wet eyes. Was this worth it?


	10. Chapter 10

After an hour of deliberation, Michonne reluctantly trudged upstairs to see to the source of her insomnia. She entered the cell, nearly tripping over the man asleep on the floor. Daryl unintelligibly grunted, clenching his fists as he toss and turned. She hesitated for a moment, and then reluctantly nudged him lightly with her foot.

“Hey,” she kept her voice soft not to startle him.

He flinched, but remained unconscious. Well, that didn’t work out too well. Michonne put her hands on her waist eying the knife, kept just a foot beside him. She knew better than to get that close and shrugged her shoulders. What other choice did she have?

Daryl awoke abruptly, thrown from a nightmare into a pain-laced reality. 

“Mer..le,” the name left his mouth before he realized he spoke it. His side ached with a dull throbbing pain. A dark figure stood over him and adrenaline flooded his veins as Daryl reached for a weapon.

“It’s just me,” Michonne’s voice stopped him from lunging at her.

“What the-fuck,” he breathed out hard and forced himself upright. He forgot he slept on the floor and started to regain his bearings. 

“You were havin’ a nightmare, makin’ all sorts of noises,” Michonne said crossing her arms.

“So you kicked me awake?” He impressively deciphered her actions from where she stood. 

“I wasn’t gonna risk gettin’ stabbed being too close.” She smirked. “And you deserved it.”

Daryl glared at her, as he stood and pushed back his sweaty, shaggy hair. Sleep was futile at this point. He pulled off his soaked through shirt, disgusted at himself for being seen like this. 

“Deserve it? What the hell did I do to you?” He couldn’t think of a damn thing he ever did to offend Michonne.

She casually looked him over, “Nothing. It’s for the poor girl down there cryin’ over you. Between the two of you it’s a miracle anyone gets any sleep ‘round here.”

Daryl still wasn’t completely alert so the added confusion only put him off further. “Why the hell was she cryin?” 

He started for the catwalk, but Michonne blocked his exit. “You need to get your head straight, Dixon.”

“Excuse me?” Daryl towered over her. He didn’t need warrior princess coming in his room to start shit that didn’t involve her in the first place. 

“You’re too damn old to be playin’ these games with that girl.” 

“What the fuck does this have to do with you?” He sneered; on the offensive for being backed in a damned corner. 

“Why don’t you look around and realize that what you do affects everyone else here too. What the hell are you aimin’ for anyway? You ain’t the type to string people along.”

“I ain’t the type?” He was shocked at her presumption and laughed disdainfully. “You barely fuckin’ know me.” Perceptive bitch; unless he was that damn transparent. 

Her dark eyes stared right into his, not even slightly intimidated. “You don’t make it this long without being able to read people. Go ahead; tell me I’m wrong then.” She tilted her head and waited for his response.

“You come up here to tell me I’m a horrible person? Because I already know that.” 

Daryl could feel that old familiar rage rising to the surface, and was tired of pushing it back down. He began to miss the rush of hot, white fury, and fuck, just lose himself in it. Since Merle died he felt like a ticking time bomb. Beth couldn’t handle it? She fucking begged for it in the first place! 

“I’m tryin’ to keep this from becoming the disaster it’s inevitably gonna be. Ya’ll want to end up hatin’ each other? The two of you ain’t even actin’ normal anymore; the others are gonna start noticing. You can play around like she’s your toy if that’s ya’lls thing, but you’re fuckin’ with her head. She’s sure as hell too emotionally immature to handle that kind of relationship, especially if you ain’t gonna be there for her.”

Daryl grabbed a new shirt and pushed by her before the last shred of his control disappeared. He went straight outside, pulling his shirt on, but far too undressed for the winter weather. He felt around in his back pocket for a lighter and deeply inhaled the first drag of smoke. The chill of the pre-dawn air on his damp skin stung, but he welcomed it. The biting pain fit for such a shitty night. Did Michonne really think that he didn’t know all of that? Jesus, they must really think he was fucking stupid. Maybe that just made it worse. He rubbed his eyes, still exhausted and had no idea how god-awful early it was outside.

Something compelled him to sabotage his relationship with the girl. Fuck, he expected Carol to back off when he attempted to drive her away years ago, but she didn’t. But Carol was pretty fucked up too, and she understood him even though he didn’t want to admit it. Beth wasn’t going to keep taking it. 

Throughout the day, Daryl unconsciously kept grabbing his shoulder. It was the spot Beth bit yesterday, and the ache didn’t get any better with pressure, but self-inflicted pain kept his mind off of Michonne’s lecture.

A pair of hands touched his shoulders from behind; he tensed and quickly twisted away.

Carol sighed, and put her hands on her hips. “Sore?” She asked.

“No,” he said quickly. “It’s nothin’.” 

“Don’t be weird, I’m not trying anything,” she punched his arm playfully and sat beside him. As soon as she looked over to him Daryl darted his eyes away. “Daryl, what’s wrong?” 

He wished her concern didn’t bother him as much as it did. ‘Don’t give half that much thought to Beth,’ he thought bitterly. 

“I know you’ve been through a lot recently, but you aren’t acting the same.”

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and then looked at her. “I did something really stupid…”

Carol searched his eyes for a second, and paused. “You didn’t…” she looked around and lowered her voice, “sleep with anyone did you?”

Daryl blushed and hated himself for it. He wasn’t nervous about sex around Beth, but that unfortunately didn’t translate to anyone else. He shouldn’t have said anything.

“No! Of course not.” He attempted to appear as offended as possible, but realized she was kidding. His face still burned with embarrassment. 

“Alright. Just thought we could talk about it since I’ve been sleeping with Rick.”

Shock crossed his face for a second before he figured she was fucking with him, again. “Very funny,” he shook his head and Carol smirked at him.

“I don’t like how you aren’t falling for my jokes anymore.” She sighed and leaned back. “But, I was serious about talking.”

Beth and Michonne walked by together, both dressed for the cold. “Where are you two going?” Carol asked. Daryl was thankful he didn’t have to.

“Going for a walk outside the perimeter,” Michonne said. 

Daryl couldn’t figure out what it was about Beth. She pulled her knit hat on, and shifted the rifle slung over her shoulder, not unlike his crossbow. With her shoulders back, she looked taller and older. The cold weather forced them mostly indoors so her pale complexion bordered on sickly. 

“Mind if I join you?” Carol’s question surprised him. 

“Sure,” Beth didn’t hesitate responding.

Carol nudged Daryl with her elbow. “Looks like you’re babysitting.” 

“Psh, she likes me better anyway,” Daryl saw Beth smile. He stood up, took Lil Asskicker into his arms and waved her one of her little hands at them. “We’ll be havin’ fun here, just the two of us.” 

Beth waved at the two of them over her shoulder as they left. If Michonne was right, then Beth played it off pretty well. She seemed fine.

Living in close quarters with so many women took a toll on him. Daryl looked down at the Judith. “You ain’t gonna cause me trouble, right?” 

_____________

Beth pushed the chain-link fence back into place, grateful Michonne dragged her out to do something other than wallow in negativity. Even if it was out of pity. 

“Rick should really be looking after her more.” Beth hated how little he spent with his daughter. 

“You should see his face when you hold her, it’s so sweet,” Carol said. 

“I’m not her mother,” and Beth didn’t want to be either. She picked up her sharpened piece of metal rebar, but Michonne already killed the three walkers outside the gate.

“I got the next one,” Carol smiled at them, and walked ahead wielding her machete.

Once Carol was out of earshot Michonne finally spoke. “So what’s with you and the redneck?”  
Beth stumbled. “It’s complicated.”

“Everythin’s complicated. Listen, you can do whatever you want, but don’t beat yourself up over him. Men like that need to figure out what they want.”

“There’s nothin’ between us,” Beth’s voice was cold. “I ain’t that stupid.” Romance was dead to her anyway. The fact that Maggie and Glenn got engaged irritated her. 

“Din’t say that,” she sighed. “Look. It would be one thing if it didn’t bother you, but it obviously does. You’re just gonna end up hatin’ him.”

Beth already knew Michonne was right. She wasn’t asking to openly date or anything like that, but it would be nice if Daryl acted consistently towards her.

In fact, when was the last time they had a normal conversation? Part of that was her fault too; she got addicted to the sexual tension, and went along with whatever he wanted whenever the whim hit him. All of her flirting and teasing didn’t help her case. 

“You’re observant,” Beth whispered to Michonne and nodded towards Carol, who was slightly still up ahead. “Do you think there’s something going on with them?”

“Why don’t you ask her?”

Beth sputtered at the absurdity of Michonne’s answer, and turned to face her. “That’s not helpful. And what am I supposed to say anyway? Hey Carol, have you and Daryl hooked up?”

“Well, that would be the most direct way to put it,” Carol answered, standing right behind her. Beth froze. 

Michonne coughed and ducked out. “I’m gonna check around….things.” She trailed off putting as much distance as possible between them. 

Beth timidly turned around. “I..uh..”

“So when did my love life become a point of interest?” Carol raised an eyebrow.

Her brain raced. “Well, isn’t everybody’s?” Beth tried to laugh it off. “I mean, you know Maggie and Glenn, Michonne and Rick-”

“What was that?” Michonne called out. 

“N-nothing!” Beth shouted back and dug herself deeper into the hole she made.

“Those two? Really?” Carol asked quietly. 

Where were walkers when you needed them?

“Anyway,” Carol sensed Beth’s distress. “I’m not sure that man is capable of a healthy romantic relationship, at least not yet.”

Not the straight answer Beth preferred, but she wanted out of the awkward conversation more.

“But, you know when it’s just for the sex, it doesn’t really matter,” Carol said.

Beth almost keeled over. The air disappeared off the planet.

“Oh come on, I’m joking!” Carol hit Beth’s shoulder. “You are just as easy as Daryl. Well, he’s wising up to it now. It sure doesn’t make it as fun anymore.”

Beth cracked a smile then laughed along with her. A fleeting uncomfortable thought struck her. Why weren’t Daryl and Carol together? The woman was pretty great, they had close bond, and knew each other a long time. Her guilt resurfaced. Why did it feel like she was the ‘other woman’ in an adulterous relationship? 

Michonne warily made her way back over to the two women after witnessing their laughter, and they continued on their route. “Rick and I are supposed to go on a run tomorrow. You two need anythin’ in particular?” 

“More blankets, I might have to wear my coat to bed tonight,” Beth said.

“It is pretty hard to regulate heat in there,” Carol sighed and glanced back at the prison.

“So it’s just you and Rick?” Beth asked. “Why don’t Daryl and I go along too?” She teased.

Michonne scoffed. “Nooope! I’m taking a break from the both of you.”

Carol looked at her questioningly. “They causing trouble?”

“The two of them together are bad news.”

Beth jumped in front of them. “Hey now!”

Carol smiled at Michonne. “That sounds about right.”  
_____________________  
The next day  
Rick and Michonne came back with a ton of bags. Beth and Maggie dug through the last of it, mostly a hodgepodge of random livestock supplies, when Maggie pulled out a couple horse related items. 

“Kind of got everything at the tractor supply, didn’t they? Well, this would be nice if we had our horses,” Maggie sighed, missing their pets. 

Beth made a face pulling out equine medicine. “Are we gonna be desperate enough to have to use this?”

“Who knows,” Maggie sat back and whipped the table with the riding crop she found at the bottom. “Guess we can store some of the things that are more useless.”

“That’s useful,” Beth snatched it from her hand and gave her sister a wicked grin. “Watch this.”

Daryl ignored the giggle from across the room. Those damn girls, always laughing at something. 

Thwack!

“Ow!” Daryl jumped at the sting on his ass; he felt it even through his jeans and spun around. “What the-hell?”

Beth cackled and ran to a safe distance. Maggie held her hand over her mouth laughing.

Daryl glared at the two women. “Where the fuck did you get a riding crop?” 

“Hey, Daryl?” Glenn asked as he walked in the room, holding some of the prison schematics he found. “Think you could look this over with me?” Daryl turned his head. 

THWACK!

“Fuckin’ hell!” Daryl shouted. Beth dodged his attempt to grab at it, laughing manically, and hid behind her future brother-in-law.

Daryl looked her dead in the eye over Glenn’s shoulder. “You touch me with that thing again you’re gonna get it.”

“Uh, what’s goin’ on man?” Glenn asked curiously.

“What the hell does it look like?” Daryl asked annoyed.

“Looks like you got your ass whipped by a little girl is all,” Glenn smirked, but saw Daryl’s glare and backed off a little. “I mean, not ‘little’ per say, she’s about average height.”

Oblivious to Glenn’s attempt at humor, Daryl returned his attention back to Beth. “Give it to me now,” Daryl demanded.

“Psshh, you even know how to use it?” She stepped out behind Glenn. It felt good too, especially in front of the others.

“I’ve ridden a damn horse.” Her playfulness really threw Daryl off. ‘Snarky bitch.’ 

Beth tapped the implement on her chin in thought. “I recall you nearly died the last time, right?”

Glenn sided up to Maggie. “What did I just walk into?”

“I don’t know, but it’s gettin’ good,” Maggie whispered back and watched intently.

Daryl kept his voice low. “Girl, you best hope I don’t get ahold of that, cause I’m gonna -”

Beth took a sudden step towards him, and he jerked back cautiously. 

“I’m sorry, what was that you were gonna do?” She asked haughtily. Was that supposed to dissuade her? Much to her confusion Daryl smiled at her taunt. 

“Beth!” 

Oh. That was why. Hershel’s voice echoed off the walls. 

"Wh-what?” Beth’s hands went behind her back, even though she was obviously busted. She blushed and looked to her dad in surprise. 

“Is that how you were taught to behave yourself?” Hershel looked upset and disappointed.

“I was just playin’ around, Daddy.” Her voice raised a few octaves. Beth doubted Daryl would back her up. He didn’t disappoint, and smirked at her scolding.

Hershel shook his head. “I thought you were a grown woman, but now you’re acting like a child again.”

Beth fought rolling her eyes at her father. Geez, it wasn’t that big a deal. Can’t anyone have any fun around here? She knew what she had to do to make it right, and turned to Daryl.

“I’m sorry,” she said loudly, then lowered her voice. “That you’re terrible at ridin’ horses.”

Daryl ignored her sarcastic apology, “Don’t worry; she’ll make it up to me.” His eyes pierced Beth. Her fingers twitched around the crop, but Daryl eyed her threateningly.  
The two continued to look daggers at each other in a silent war, until Hershel turned away from them to regard his older daughter.

“Maggie, the least you could do is say something instead of just watching your sister act out.” 

The quick shift of blame blindsided Maggie, and moved everyone’s attention to the dark haired woman.

“Me?!” 

Beth bit her tongue to keep from cracking up, while Daryl snickered beside her.

“Yeah, Maggie, keep your damn sister in line.” Daryl shouted, grinning from behind Hershel. 

Maggie conveyed a clear message to him with a glare. 

Daryl received her ‘go fuck yourself’ ocular memo. He coughed into his fist to hide his laughter and quickly left the room.

Glenn smiled at his annoyed fiancé, temporarily safe from repercussions in Hershel’s presence. “You’re right, it did get good.”


	11. Chapter 11

There are some rough sexual things ahead. I can’t believe I wrote this, for real. All this rough sex just tells me I should just write a Red Canyon Mac fic (oh shit, a crossover?) Be prepared. Also, I realize I’m an idiot and made a stupid error regarding the Greene family.

Ch11

“Dude, you should have seen it. She owned him,” Glenn reminisced fondly retelling Rick the story of Beth trouncing Daryl, including some skillful miming. “I’d pay to see something like that again.”

“So you’re suggesting some sort of Woodburian death match?” Rick asked. He couldn’t quite wrap his head around that story, and for the first time wished those damn surveillance cameras worked.

“Not death match, per say,” Glenn didn’t want to sound like a monster. “I mean, come on, Daryl doesn’t get a weapon. You know, for a handicap.”

Their conversation was loud enough that one of the participants of that legendary match could hear them. The more Beth thought about messing around with Daryl the more uncomfortable she got. Even if it was all for fun, whipping the man with an abusive past without warning was inappropriate. She gnawed on her nails, leaning back in her bunk with the same book she’d been trying to read for weeks. Beth finally recognized the paperback from her father’s library at home. How it got to the prison was a mystery to her.

‘Damn it.’ She didn’t get an indication that her play bothered Daryl, but the thought would haunt her until she knew for sure. Once again, she threw the half-read book aside. As it flopped on the bed she discovered a scribbled note on the inside of the paperback’s jacket.

'It’s a good thing you didn’t teach me how to shoot, right?'

Beth inspected the pretty script, but decided to decipher it later. She nearly bowled-over Maggie, barely side-stepping in time, as she ran down the hallway.

“Hey, where you speeding off to?” Maggie asked.

“Uh,” Beth decided not to lie. She walked backwards, still conversing with her sister. “I need to talk to Daryl. Is daddy still upset?” The latter question hung just one rung lower in priority. 

“I don’t think so,” Maggie scrutinized her sister’s strange behavior. “But I think the idea of you flirting with Daryl made him react like that.”

“Flirting?” Beth blushed, but had no quick excuse. Great, it was that obvious now. “Anyway gotta go, I’ll talk to you later!” She turned and ran off before Maggie could say anything else.

_______________  
Due to his recent lack of sleep, adjusting the tension of his crossbow proved more of an endeavor than Daryl anticipated. Various nightmares woke him every few hours last night. He ended up pacing around outside with his last cigarette until morning. ‘Thought I was past that shit, at least most of it.’ He paused to stretch his neck, sitting on the floor with his back to the doorway unaware Beth entered. 

“I’m sorry.” 

Hiding his surprise, Daryl glanced up over his shoulder at Beth. She stepped closer and dropped the riding crop to the ground. 

“I shouldn’t have done that yesterday, I just wasn’t thinkin’.” Her apology was heartfelt and sincere this time so that was a plus.

Daryl returned to modifying his crossbow, while Beth waited apprehensively for some sort of response. ‘Is he that angry?’ 

Just as she began to despondently shuffle away he finally spoke. “You think that I couldn’t get that from you in a second if I really wanted to?”  
“Oh.” Relief poured off of her, finally able to stand up straight without the weight of guilt. “Wait. You let me do it?”

“You got me the first time. I saw the second comin’ a mile away, but you were running around like a kid on Christmas. So, I let you have that one,” he said simply, giving her a cursory glance, then went back to what he was doing. 

So she was worried over nothing, but…something was off. He looked worn, as if he had barely any sleep; his age was apparent in his tired eyes.  
Daryl froze when Beth knelt behind him and rested her chin on his shoulder.

“Are you sure?” She asked watching his hands work. His muscular body under his thin cotton shirt tensed under her touch.  
“Girl, don’t you got somethin’ better to do?” 

“So you’re not mad at me?” She asked. Her eyes peered over at what she could see of his face, gauging his expression.

“No,” he said clumsily working with limited movement thanks to her leaning against him. “I’m not mad at you.”

Something in Beth’s gut told her he wasn’t completely okay. “So what are you doing?” She asked.

Daryl snorted at her ridiculous question and she smiled. Beth felt warm and happy just sitting with him, watching him do his thing.

“I said I ain’t mad. I meant it, go on now,” he said.

She pushed his brown slightly shaggy hair behind his ear, and quickly kissed his cheek. “If you say so.” Her hand reached along the floor, for the item she dropped. An implement like that in his possession didn’t seem like a good idea. ‘He did say he was fine…’ 

“You really wanna do that?” Daryl turned his head; his lips brushed hers purely by accident, and Beth jerked back.

Even though she kissed him before it still gave her butterflies. She paused as he removed one of the tips from a bolt and twirled it in his hand. 

“Cause I got somethin’ that hurts a lot more than that, will leave a welt, and I can carry it anywhere without being obvious.” Daryl inwardly cringed as Michonne’s words came back to him and he instantly felt guilty.

“I was just gonna get rid of it,” Beth said as if she was being so very gracious. But…now she was curious. In fact, she wanted it, right then. “Probably deserve it,” she said quietly.

“Shouldn’t play around like that anymore,” he said quickly, and shifted his arm, so she had to move. “With any of it, especially the intense stuff with a girl like you.”

Beth didn’t like the direction of the conversation and sat back on her heels. “What?” Didn’t this talk already happen? 

“You’re going to bed cryin’ over it, aren’t you?”

He knew that? Well, now it explained Michonne’s exchange with her the other day. Maybe casual sex had more of an emotional toll on her than she preferred. Could it be she wasn’t as cosmopolitan as she assumed? Or was it something else? Beth immediately shot down the last thought before it disturbed her further. 

“That’s not what it was about,” she quickly continued. “Nothing’s been too much for me. In fact,” she might as well get it out. “I actually want to try what you mentioned earlier.”  
Daryl thought back. What the hell was she talking about? “And what was that?” He finally asked.

Beth sighed and searched for a better word but couldn’t come up with one. “You know…rough.”

Daryl paused; words temporarily escaped him. “No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do,” she pressed. “I mean,” she huffed at his assumption. “How would you even know if I’d like it or not?”

“Next you’ll be tellin’ me you want rape fantasy role play.” Daryl waited for an incensed answer, but Beth either ignored or didn’t get his sarcasm. 

“Like, would you be yourself or would you play it as a stranger?” Beth asked. 

She was still close enough for him to feel her breath on his neck. Daryl shot her a glare. “Depends if you’re gonna fight back for not.” 

She looked deep in thought instead of put off. “Hmm…well, I’d need to think about that.”

“I wasn’t serious,” Daryl got to his feet; discomforted by her intrigue.

“Oh, why not?” She asked looking up at him.

“Because you have no idea what you’re getting into or askin’ for.” His was angry at her interest, because now it piqued his as well. That sure as hell wasn’t going to make stopping anything easier.

“Why don’t you let me decide that for myself?”

“Because, I ain’t gonna be to blame when something bad happens,” he said.

Beth quirked her head and furrowed her brow. “Isn’t that what safe words are for?” 

Daryl was at a loss. Was she really arguing with him to do this? It only proved how young and stupid she still was. He couldn’t trust her to use a safe word in a scenario like that.

“That’s what you want?” Daryl rubbed his face, and sighed. “Cause we really need to stop doing this.” He felt like he was on repeat. 

Beth discerned, what she thought, was thinly veiled disgust in his eyes. Maybe she just wasn’t innocent enough for him anymore? Continuing this strange relationship was wearing them both down. She needed more than just this, and worried that her feelings for him were starting to change.

“Yes. Especially if this time you’re actually serious about not doing this anymore,” Beth wasn’t as embarrassed over it. It seemed so long ago that she started off with only childish adoration of him. She sensed his trepidation. “But not if it puts you off.”

Daryl didn’t recognize the blond woman in front of him. Her softness disappeared when she looked at him. Was that his fault? Daryl honestly didn’t know if he had it in him to do what she wanted, as much as he teased it before. How the hell could he explain to her that sort of scene was fast, lacked any warm-up, and could be too intense for someone even familiar with rough sex? But maybe that was needed to end this. He could start it, then stop it immediately when sensed her inevitable discomfort. ‘Wait, did she say everything?’  
“Fuckin’ is fuckin’, I don’t care,” he finally said flippantly.

Beth refrained from rolling her eyes. Again with that attitude? How could he act so callous to her one minute and not the next? And here she thought Jimmy was immature. She pushed herself back to her feet. “Good to know I guess,” and paused leaving his cell. “You know we can be just friends.”

“You want that now or after the sex?” Daryl asked.

“After,” she didn’t miss a beat exiting, and then quickly chastised herself. ‘Jesus, when did I turn into such a sex maniac?’  
______________  
Rick, Daryl, and Michonne were still gone. Beth walked the fence outside, a rifle hanging off her shoulder and a piece of rebar in her hands. She impatiently waited on them to return from Woodbury after the attack on the prison. 

She shivered in chilly weather, zipping up the extra inch of her purple jacket to her chin. The grey fingerless gloves were little help to her nearly numb hands. Dark grey clouds loomed ahead with a foreboding sign of an oncoming storm, but the unmistakable sound of a motorcycle engine in the distance gave her great relief. 

Running down to the gate, she caught the sight of a bus and more cars following after Daryl’s bike. Cautious, she stayed back as people were unloaded, most of them elderly. Beth grabbed Glenn’s arm as he passed.  
“Who are these people?” She asked.

“From Woodbury,” he said. “Apparently the governor lost it, and Rick decided to bring them back.” Glenn walked off to help Maggie get things under control.  
Beth remained outside, overwhelmed by the amount of people going indoors. There wasn’t enough space, much less necessities for everyone. Carl stomped off in a fit after arguing with his father; Beth already repressed how shaken she was after he killed a young man in front of her. She crept closer to the others to overhear Rick discuss clearing out more blocks with Daryl, Glenn and Maggie. It irritated her how fast it all came on. ‘What happened to making group decisions?’ 

She looked back out to the entrance; Michonne hadn’t yet moved since they returned, sitting on the trunk of a car with her head in her hands. Before Beth could even take a step in her direction, Michonne began to walk away from the prison and back outside the gates alone; her sword dragged limply from her hand. The familiar gait reminded her of Daryl after his brother died. Something very bad happened.

Beth ran after her without thinking, until an arm reached out and accidently clotheslined her. Daryl pulled her back up to her feet before Beth even knew she fell.  
“Leave her be,” he said.

“What the hell is going on?” She demanded, then saw the pain in Daryl’s face.

“Andrea,” Daryl said and looked back in Michonne’s direction.

Beth blinked. “Andrea?” Her interactions with the woman were complicated, but Beth knew Andrea only meant well. 

Daryl didn’t have the energy or patience to comfort Beth, not when his world continued to crumble apart around him. Anguish tore at his insides again with more unwanted retrospection. 

Daryl remembered when he and Merle stumbled across Dale and his sweet looking RV outside the Atlanta area. Dale was all too happy to show them to the small camp. Daryl almost felt bad how trusting the old man was, but as Merle said, if they were that stupid then they deserved to be robbed blind. 

Andrea was trouble; Daryl knew the moment he laid eyes on the blonde and her little sister. He actually thought Amy was pretty cute at first, but the girl was fucking terrified of both of them. Andrea’s protective glower kept him from going within spitting distance of the two. Added to that was Amy’s frightful glances like he was going to rape her at any second. City girl and her little sister at least knew how to fish, being at least semi-useful, even Merle recognized that. Suddenly he became aware that all four of them were dead. 

But Daryl took Andrea’s death personally. They left her behind at the farm. Daryl was convinced she’d still be alive if he took the risk to go back. He clenched his jaw. ‘I would have found her.’ Instantly his past failures rose to the surface. ‘Really? Cause you did a stellar job tracking a ten year old girl five minutes after she ran off, so finding Andrea sounds real likely in your capable hands.’ Yep, he was going to destroy something tonight.

Daryl unknowingly snorted aloud, and Beth watched him curiously; afraid to interrupt his thoughts.

‘Does he know I’m here?’ She wondered.

Daryl glared out into the woods. Andrea shot him, but hell, he would have too. He respected that she only tried to protect the group. They all pushed her out of the group and right into Shane’s crazy arms. Didn’t they remember all the shit he did? Daryl grimaced in disgust at the all the times he nearly killed someone in a hot rage. He lunged at Rick with a knife, attacked Shane, which may have been warranted, tried to kill Jim with a pick ax, and Jenner at the CDC…twice. Funny how Rick kept him from beating a Vatos kid to death in the street, but turned a blind eye to him torturing the boy at the farm. 

They all judged Andrea for her suicidal thoughts after her sister died, like Jacqui, and Beth, and like fuckin’ all of them at one point or another whether it was voiced or not. He raked his hand through his hair. He needed to get the hell out of there before he snapped in front of Beth; he knew she was staring.

“Daryl?” Carol walked up to the two of them, but he didn’t even hear her.

“Should of went back for her,” Daryl said aloud. His thoughts still taunted him. ‘You’re nobody’s bitch, but you sure fucking backed down to Rick, didn’t you?’

“You know it’s not your fault, right?” Carol attempted to touch his arm, but he pulled away suddenly aware of her presence. 

“Andrea belonged with us, and we let her go when she finally came back,” he said angrily.

“That was her choice,” Carol said. Beth silently watched with no helpful words to offer.

Daryl shook his head. He would have convinced Andrea, or fuck, just dragged her ass back until they could reverse the brain washing. He silently walked off in Michonne’s direction, his eyes dark and murderous.

Beth looked helplessly to Carol. “What do we do?”

“Nothing we can do, honey.”

“We can just let everyone walk away after something like this. It isn’t coping!” Beth shouted. “Going out an’ killing walkers alone and hurt isn’t grieving.” She regained some resolve. “I’m going after them.”

Carol grabbed Beth’s arm before she could take off, and gave her a serious motherly look. “You do that and you’ll only make it worse. You know how he is. He needs his space to blow off some steam, and you don’t want to be in the way of that.” Beth hated that Carol was right, and looked after Daryl, as he disappeared into the darkening evening night.  
_________

Daryl stepped over another decapitated walker. He really hoped Michonne left something for him to kill. He wanted to just fucking drink until he passed out.  
“An answer for an arrow,” Daryl murmured. “Worst fuckin’ answer ever,” he rubbed his eyes and leaned back against a tree.

He vividly remembered their walk in the dark, searching for Sophia. Daryl was surprised Andrea volunteered to go with him, but had the idea she just didn’t want to stay in the RV listening to Carol bawl. He distinctly recalled liking the shirt she wore, the striped one that fell off her shoulders, and found himself looking her over a bit. 

Daryl scrunched his nose up and blushed at the thought of his pathetic flirting. He playfully taunted her, got her to laugh, and he even added a strut to his walk. Daryl never talked that long and at ease to a woman before. But now there was nothing left of her, he lost the book she gave him while he recovered. All he had was a stupid poem imprinted into his brain. 

“Might as well quit,” he bitterly spat, automatically focusing on fury instead of sorrow to grieve. Daryl wanted to hate her; she made so many fucking terrible decisions.  
“She wanted to die all along; got what she fuckin’ wanted- ” his voice faltered as it became more difficult for him to finish the sentence. 

Michonne grabbed Daryl’s shoulder from behind and he didn’t even flinch. He pulled her to him firmly. She silently wept into his neck, and as much as Daryl wanted to, he was too beat down as a child to join her. Michonne didn’t want to talk, and that was even better. He’d let her stay there as long as she needed, but wasn’t sure if she was doing it for her own comfort or for his. Daryl thought after Merle he couldn’t feel this miserable anymore. He just wanted to be numb.

_________  
Beth felt like a stranger in her own home now; she entered the prison to the unfamiliar din of too many people. She was naturally shy, so her situation was incredibly anxiety inducing. Tyrese and Sasha stood separate from both groups; she didn’t blame them for still being wary considering how Rick treated them. Beth realized that they were missing people too. A father and a son around her age were with them, now she assumed they were probably dead. 

Too overwhelmed to play the welcoming hostess, Beth selfishly left the others to deal with settling them in and quietly shut the gate behind her and went down the silent hallway of the more recently cleared blocks. At least she could get her bearings of the area. Passing a walkway she paused looking at another gate to her left. It was open, and she glanced down the second corridor into the darkness. One of Daryl’s bolts lied on the floor, and she quickly trotted down the hallway to retrieve it. ‘Must have dropped it,’ she thought and turned back. 

A slow creak of a gate behind her made her whip her head around. 

“What are you doing down here?” Daryl’s sharp voice snapped her to, and dissipated her surge of fear.

“I just needed to get away from all those people,” Beth was embarrassed for feeling that way. “There’s nowhere to really go now to be alone.” 

“Shouldn’t be wandering here by yourself.” He swept her aside with his arm, checking where they came from.

“I’m sorry about Andrea,” she handed his projectile back. “I didn’t know her as well as you and some of the others.” Beth didn’t need to go into the details of Andrea actually trying to talk to her about life and death. It upset her, because Andrea trusted her to make the right decision, and Beth failed her. She took Daryl’s silence for what it usually meant, and began walking back to the gate.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Back, obviously.” She gave him a weird look. 

“What’s your safe word?”

“What?” A dizzying amount of adrenaline rushed her. She was shocked at the question and the timing of it.

“You heard me, so answer. I’m done repeating myself constantly around you. Get your ears checked if your hearing is that bad.”

She actually had a hard time coming up with one. “Dixon,” Beth turned and crossed her arms. “You’re last name is my safe word.” Why did he want to know that now? “You’re not thinkin’ here and now, are you?”

He didn’t comment on her choice. “You wanna play it rough then here’s your head start.” With the bolt in hand he pointed to the direction out. “Then I’m coming after you. And I’m going to do whatever I want when I catch you.”

Beth didn’t expect to be so chilled by his voice. This was so impromptu that it didn’t register; she kept looking at him as if he was crazy.  
“Wastin’ time,” Daryl said eying her exit.

“You’re doing that mindfuck thing with me again, right?”

“Fuck will be somewhere in there. You want to play it forced, right? So you better realize I ain’t stopping at the word ‘no’.” He looked over her jeans and thin shirt. “Hope you don’t care about those clothes.”

She was filled with foreboding, goose bumps prickled her skin.

“You want to stop, you better say it now, otherwise you got 30 seconds,” he warned leaning against the wall. 

The knots in her stomach made her nauseous. Beth refused to let him see her run, but quickly rounded the corner before breaking out into a sprint. Did she want to get caught or not? She yanked on the last gate back, but it didn’t budge. It was locked. Looked she didn’t have a choice.

“What the hell?!” She whispered in panic. “He locked us down here?” No one could get in and she couldn’t get out.

She wasn’t even sure of her way in the damn labyrinth. How much time had passed? When every tiny noise echoed as if they were in a cavern how did he remain so silent? Now markedly scared, Beth inched up the hallway, wondering if she just needed to speed across. A small noise to her right caught her attention. 

Daryl slammed her against the hard wall, before she could utter a shocked scream. He gripped her neck tight. Her hands grasped at his wrist, when after a few seconds he didn’t let go. She looked at him wide-eyed, still unable to get any air, and dug her nails into his skin. He only smirked, unaffected, and threw her down to the floor. The impact jarred her more than expected. She thought he’d be on her in a second, but he stood over her and gripped her hair and twisted harshly; tears actually sprung in her eyes. Beth struggled to get up on her knees to ease the pain, her hand pulling at his wrist as if she could break the hold.

“You try to fight, scream, or run away, and you’ll regret it,” his voice was low and caustic. “Do you understand?”

She whimpered in pain at his reaffirming grip.

“Uh huh,” Beth agreed desperately. It all was happening faster than she could get accustomed to, and it hurt, but not the way she thought it would. 

“Not that it matters, since no one can hear you anyway.” He took a couple steps, forcing her to painfully move alongside of him as he led her by the hair. Daryl released her with a shove, but Beth pushed herself up and stumbled to her feet to run away. She didn’t know why she did it. He caught her arm, wrenching her back to face him and slapped her face. 

Daryl was instantly sickened; and felt like someone punched him in the gut. He pulled his hands back from her as if she was poison. ‘Shit.’ A flash of his past crashed on top of him. 

Beth sucked in a breath and opened her eyes looking fine, but startled and a little scared. 

Daryl wanted to throw up at just the sight of fear in her eyes; the entire tone put him off. The abusive and rapey energy conjured up old memories he buried. Now it felt like someone was strangling him. Where did all the fucking air go? 

“Fuck.” Daryl took a step back and turned around. “I can’t do this,” his voice wavered. ‘Pull it together Dixon.’

Beth hesitated; temporarily confused by the abrupt backlash. She put a hand on his shoulder concerned at how bothered he was. “Are you okay?” Beth specifically asked for it, so she instantly felt terrible.

Daryl’s first instinct was to shrug her off, but he didn’t. The whole atmosphere of the situation troubled him even though it was fake. Added to that was the lack of anything resembling enjoyment in her eyes. 

“It was a bit much, wasn’t it? I never should have said anythin’,” Beth said quietly. 

Putting the blame on herself so he wouldn’t feel bad made Daryl feel a million times worse.

Beth expected to get roughed up, but even so, she imagined a different sort of thrill. Something was lacking; everything felt too cold and distant. And drudging up old trauma from his childhood was the last thing she wanted to do.

“Let’s just go back,” she said softly. “It was a stupid suggestion, and you were right about it.”

“Stay put, and shut your mouth,” Daryl looked at her over his shoulder. “We’re changing this up. I didn’t hear a safe word. Is that still the case?”

Beth was at a loss. If he could barely even look her in the face then how was this was going to work? “Change it up how?” She asked. Man, they sure had the most awkward sexual encounters ever.

“I ain’t chasin’ you around this damn place to wrestle you to the ground. I’m too fuckin’ old to be fighting teenagers.”

“Kinda old to be doing anything with me,” Beth cocked her head with a tiny smile. She couldn’t help it. If it lightened the mood or even annoyed him, it would at least shift his mind to something else. He chuckled, but it sounded ominous to her.

“That’s the last thing you say without consequences, got me lil girl?” He stalked up to her. “And I ain’t promptin’ you anymore either.” 

Beth looked up at him, wishing she wasn’t so damn short compared to him. 

“And this is the last time we do this; got me?” He had to make sure they were both on the same page.

The reiteration wasn’t needed, and still crushingly disappointing. The warmth in her chest returned when he looked down at her with penetrating blue eyes and commanded things with his rough voice; that was what she missed. 

“Good, that’s what I wanted,” she lied; actually the thought still didn’t sink in yet. 

“That right?” He asked mockingly. Now Daryl could at least take in the sight of her; she wasn’t scared anymore, she was turned on, now it felt right.

“Better make it good then,” she said haughtily.

Daryl slapped Beth’s face hard, much harder than the first time. Her heart skipped a beat; the burn spread from her cheek to all over. Her body lit up in arousal. It made no sense to her.

“Good for who? Since you’re fuckin’ begging me to do this to you. I get it. You’re a young, good little girl, and want to feel like a dirty fuckin’ whore. I’ll play along.”

She set her jaw, and tried to shove him back but he took her by the neck and slammed her back into the wall again. It made her slightly lightheaded and she liked it. Beth bit her tongue, wanting and silently begging for another slap to her face. God, how much did she need to act out to get that again? She wanted it all.

“You think I’m gonna give you what you want for disobeying?” He snickered. He saw her lip twitch and fingers dig into her palms; contemplating physically attacking him if necessary. “You try that again and you’ll go to bed very disappointed.”

Well that was begging for a retort. “More so than usual?” Beth asked. If she couldn’t provoke physically why not verbally?

“You wanna find out? Because I’m out of patience for your shit talk.” He let her neck go, leaving her empty against the wall.

The burn of his slap was ebbing, reminding her that she needed more now. “No sir.” She was very upset by that notion, as well as his distance from her.

He pulled her to him by the back of her head, growling the words just inches from her lips. “Then put that fucking mouth to use and suck my cock.”

She thought he’d never ask. Her hands ripped at his pants, and lingered over his lean waist. She knelt down, taking down his clothing with her. She sweetly smiled up at him, and could tell he was uncomfortable with this. Well, she could make him forget about that shortly.

Daryl twisted her blonde hair to the top of her head with his hand, breathing hard as her deliciously soft hot mouth encircled him. The tighter he pulled that handful of hair, the deeper she took him. He wasn’t going to deny himself this time, but it his fucking orgasm still hit him faster than he expected.  
“You’re gonna take every fuckin’ drop of it, ain’t you?” 

Beth nodded enthusiastically, and he groaned, drawing her head closer. She could tell by the pace and stiffness of him in that he was close, and allowed him to fuck her mouth until he came. It took everything she had to focus on not choking on how deep he thrust himself down her throat. She fell back with a ragged breath and the back of her hand brushed her mouth as she swallowed. Her eyes were a little watery, but it had been a long time. 

Daryl yanked her upwards pressing her against the wall again, and forced his tongue into her mouth. She guessed he didn’t mind, and it turned her on. She got a little aggressive biting his lip, scratching at his shirt, and kissing him back as deeply as he let her. He put a hand to her chest and forcefully pushed her back enough that her lips couldn’t reach his. 

“You are too fuckin’ good at that,” he whispered. 

She growled in annoyance, and was about to throw herself forward again until Daryl ran his hand down the side of her face. She fought everything in her to take what she wanted and stayed where he put her. Daryl rewarded her with another smack to her cheek. Beth’s eyes rolled back with the sting she began to miss. 

“I’m gonna fuck you until you scream my name, and I don’t care who the hell hears it.”

Beth was using the wall for support to keep upright, and her hands found themselves on his insanely toned arms.

“You’re my little slut, aren’t you?” Daryl grasped her face in his hands, and she bit her lip. “Say it.”

“Y-yes,” she huskily breathed. He looked so fucking sexy staring down at her; it even felt like his eyes were fucking her as he looked her over. 

‘Louder,” he growled. “Look me in the eyes and say you’re my fucking slut.” He locked her bright big eyes with his. 

“I’m your fucking slut!” She shouted. The cool calm air of control that he exuded had her completely at his whim. He pulled her hair back viciously, and jammed his fingers into her mouth, forcing it open. 

“That’s right; you want it all don’t you?” He curled his lip with a menacing smile. 

Beth looked innocently at him while she attempted to speak, but he quickly pulled his fingers out and spit in her mouth. He pushed her back to the ground, but she barely acknowledged it in her shocked state.

She licked her lips and grunted in pain. Did he just…do that? Her chest felt heavy, what was wrong with her? This was so very, very bad. No one normal got off on this. Did this make him disgusted with her? Beth got distracted with her worry. 

“You like that, don’t you girl?” Daryl adjusted his pants back and walked around her, eying her carefully for distress, giving her a chance to stop. He got carried away in that last little bit, but was eager to keep going if she was game.

“Yes…sir. D-do you?” Beth asked, afraid to look up at him. She couldn’t endure looking at his face; not when she felt so dirty.

“I just came in your mouth a minute ago and I can fuck you again right now.” He paused. “Beth, look at me.” She timidly raised her eyes. He almost was smiling. “I do.” That was all that needed to be said, but he couldn’t leave it at that. His lips quirked. “I’d eat my own cum out that fucking pussy, girl.”

The juxtaposition was jarring; Beth’s face was still hot from being slapped and now from his words.

“You want to be my fucking slut right?” Daryl pressed his boot on her ass and shoved her forward. “Come on, then.”

 

“D-Daryl,” she stuttered, barely able to keep her limbs moving to stay on her hands and knees.

He bent down beside her, “What’s the matter, babe? Think you’re too cute and sweet to crawl for me?” Daryl stood up, and swung the bolt she forgot he had, straight across her ass.

She cried out, the sharp pain was much more punishing than his hand. “No, sir!” She didn’t mean to be that loud. The intense sting from the blow made her break out into a light sweat.

“Then go, Jesus, do I need a leash to drag you around on?” He whacked her again, and she nearly just fell over, having to take a moment to take a needed breath and focus. Beth crawled ahead a bit, until he pushed her with his boot into the side hallway. “Now I wasn’t joking about the clothes. Lose them fast, or you’ll have a lot to explain to those old people.”

Beth could barely maneuver her hands to do what she wanted. Yeah, maybe going into hardcore rough sex was a bit drastic. This direction he decided on was still almost too fervent, but she loved it. Struggling unbuttoning her jeans with shaky hands, Beth really didn’t want them to be destroyed. Daryl didn’t give a fuck though, her back hit the concrete floor as he ripped down her tight fitting pants impatiently, yanking them off her legs along with her sneakers and left sock.

“How do you wanna be fucked? On your hands and knees, on your back, on top?”

“Um, what-whatever,” Beth found it difficult to piece together a simple sentence, pulling her shirt off over her head. She gasped and fell back again as his hand dove right down into the soaking wet thin fabric of her underwear.

Daryl’s heavy breath was in her ear. “Fuck girl. You get so fucking wet from that. Makes my job easier.” He pulled his fingers out of her to tear off her panties.

She shrieked in disapproval, but was silenced when the wet fingers were shoved in her mouth again. Her hands gripped at his shirt, ripping off some of the buttons to open it all the way.

“Always a problem, that damn mouth of yours,” he leaned over in between her legs, his free hand going to his half-done pants. He didn’t bother discarding his shredded shirt. Unfortunately, Beth found him even hotter, and thought she might have a fetish regarding things in her mouth. 

“Next time you fuck another guy you’re only gonna think of me, ain’t ya?” He smirked, not realizing how brutally the idea struck her. “I’d love to fuck you on your hands and knees, but I just got to see that sweet face of yours when you cum for me.”

He filled her with one quick thrust; she nearly choked on his fingers still in her mouth until he finally pulled them out to thrust into her steadily.

Daryl kept his pace and depth steady and gripped her hips; his hands pulled her to him perfectly so that she was almost instantly brought to climax. Beth was so in the zone, she couldn’t do anything, but just take it. She managed to get an arm around the back of his neck, keeping him close like she wanted. It was so fucking perfect; she parted her lips with another moan her eyes closed tight.

“Look at me,” Daryl demanded. 

She fluttered her lust heavy eyes open, and swallowed hard seeing his face, those lips, and eyes. She loved every part of him. Beth’s breath suddenly got stuck in her throat.

“Nobody can get you off like I can,” he said running his thumb over her parted lower lip. “Ain’t that right?” 

She whimpered and nodded, the world got fuzzy because her eyes clouded with tears. Not only could she not imagine doing anything like this with anyone else, but she didn’t want to. 

“I’m gonna miss this fucking body of yours, sweetheart,” Daryl kissed her jaw, his facial scratched against her skin, and she winced because of how much she fucking loved the feel of it.

The lump in her throat prevented any deep breaths she needed. Beth thought she was going to pass out. She was drowning underneath him. 

“Stop,” Beth begged.

“Why would I stop? I’m far from being done with you,” Daryl taunted. It wasn’t the safe word, but something was amiss.

“I can’t,” Beth feebly tried to suck in a breath.

“Talk to me, baby.” He slowly stopped, and cupped the side of her face with his hand. 

That did it. She burst into tears. 

“Beth?”

“I’m sorry,” she wheezed. 

“What are you talkin’ about?” Daryl raised an eyebrow. “Did you forget I nearly had a panic attack a second ago?” 

Beth shook her head, trying to stop her sobs. Oh God, what was she doing? “I’m so sorry, I just...,” she took another heaving crying breath. “I…love you.”

Daryl furrowed his brow as anxiety overpowered him. “Shh, it’s alright.” He pulled her against him, so she couldn’t see his face. His chest constricted with lack of air, because he forgot to breathe.

Beth knew it was true as soon as she said it. She heard him swallow roughly being pressed against his neck. 

“I know you don’t feel the same way,” she gained a little more articulateness to her voice. “And that’s fine.” She inhaled deeply, cursing herself for crying so much. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

Daryl shut his eyes tightly. She was mistaken, confused, and under a lot of endorphins; he didn’t expect clarity from her. She did not love him. He found himself suddenly breathing hard.

“Nothing to be sorry about,” he finally spoke in a broken voice, and opened his eyes focusing on the grooves in the cinderblock walls to keep it together. He didn’t even know how to recognize an emotion like that, and what the fuck was he supposed to say? All he knew was that for the second time that day the ground felt like it gave way beneath him. He pushed his lips to her hair, then put a hand to his head. He didn’t want to end it on this note, but sex at this point didn’t seem feasible. Maybe it was all for the best. 

“You are so sweet, Beth. You fuckin’ kill me sometimes,” Daryl tilted her face up to his. He kissed her slightly swollen lips, she tasted salty from tears, and he felt her slightly try to pull back. Daryl didn’t let her, firmly grasping her face and delving his tongue slowly into her mouth. It was so deep, slow, and intimate that when Beth slowly began to kiss him back Daryl felt a pang in his chest.

He quickly broke away and pressed his forehead to hers, catching his breath as if he ran a marathon. Daryl squeezed his eyes shut. “I…” he spoke haltingly and not by choice, “I don’t know what to say,” He physically bit his lower lip to quell rise of the disturbing unstableness he felt.

“Don’t say anything.” She looked up at him as he finally righted himself up; his eyes looked away. 

Beth reached for her sock, the closest article of clothing to her. Goddamn it, she hated the world. She wiped her eyes with her arm, and sniffed back her runny nose. It wasn’t like they were never going to see each other again. Maybe that made it worse. He was already dressed and gathered her shoes for her. 

“I’m sorry about the shirt,” she said. His hand gripped hers and pulled her to her feet.

He put both hands on the sides of her face, “Go ahead, I’ll be right behind you,” he said still not able to look at her. He didn’t know what would happen if he did, and now couldn’t stand the thought of the disappointed look on her face, as she left him there. Everything in his life was a chaotic fucking mess. Was this what Rick felt as he lost it? He felt dangerously close to falling over the edge. Daryl’s eyes burned from holding back the overwhelming emotion for so long. He nonsensically thought about punching the wall even though it would likely break his hand, because he wasn’t going to cry over her.

Beth paused as she made her way down the corridor; it was hard to conceal the echoes off empty halls. She heard Daryl clear his throat from the thickness that coated it and he followed it by a deep shaky breath. Beth dried her eyes for nothing, and broke down again, stifling her sobbing best she could. But going back wasn’t an option anymore, so she kept going forward.

 

 

 

E

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing and please keep doing so…even if you hate me now. What do you think of the whole thing? I don’t think Daryl even truly knows how he feels about the women in his life, because even though he may feel something, I don’t think he knows what word/emotion to put to it. We’ll see what happens in season 4.  
> I chose to end with a somewhat realistic ending than something contrived. I also made an effort not to hate on Carol or Andrea, two polarizing but great characters. Glad I’m not the only fan of Daryl/Beth (I also like the idea of him with Andrea too).


	12. Chapter 12

The Epilogue

Several months later:

It finally started to get warm again. It was only going to be a short time before the soothing temperatures became unbearably hot and humid. Daryl leaned back in the grass with his feet up on a box. Even with his eyes closed felt a shadow block his light. It was the same person who met in the same spot and the same time for the past three weeks.

“Hey, I think this is yours,” she paused. “Well technically it’s my dad’s but I guess it’s yours now.” Beth had begun to really like getting back to the way things were again, like finally comfortable starting up a conversation.

He opened his eyes to Beth. She waved a book around that he nearly completely forgot about. 

“You found that?” Daryl sat up and took the book with barely restrained mirth.

Beth made a guilty face, “I found it a while ago, but it kind of got buried.” 

Daryl flipped through it; just glancing at the front inside cover for a millisecond then closed it and put it beside him leaning back into his prior position. “Never even read it,” he said with a small smile.

“It’s not that good,” Beth admitted with a smile back. “Not much of an apology is it?” She referred to the note in the book, figuring out it was Andrea’s message a while ago.

“Nah, but that’s why I like it.” Daryl shifted his shoulders and watched Beth stand there awkwardly. Their interactions had slowly risen to a once a week occurrence.

“Well, are you gonna stand there or sit?” He asked. It was slowly getting better between them. He forgot what it was like just to be friends with her. 

Beth took his invitation beside him. When she glanced at him, his eyes were closed again. She leaned back, mimicking his position, and then sighed contentedly. The grass was soft and lush already.

Maggie stopped as she passed them, sweaty from hauling boxes from the truck back inside for the past hour. “Hey don’t worry, you two, we got this,” she said snarkily.  
“Thanks!” Daryl shouted out smirking. And Beth quietly laughed beside him. He turned his head to her. “Bout time some these other people do somethin’,” he said eying around them.

“Really, you mean the old lady in the wheelchair?” Beth asked, looking at the closest person nearby.

The older lady saw Beth look at her, so Beth leaned up and gave her a pleasant smile. 

“You two are so adorable together,” she said.

Beth blushed and fought a grimace, while Daryl made a small noise in his throat, his feet dropped from his box to the ground as he sat up.

“You’re a lucky man; you have a very beautiful daughter.”

Beth had to elbow Daryl in the ribs as he began to sputter a curse. “She has dementia,” Beth hissed. “She keeps thinking my dad is my grandfather.” Beth turned back to the lady. “Thank you!” She shouted back, knowing the woman couldn’t keep track of who was related to whom after all this time. 

“Fuck,” Daryl grunted. “Do I look that old to be your dad?”

Beth scrutinized him carefully for a moment, “Oh yeah, totally.”

“Bitch,” he nudged her hard with his shoulder. She toppled over laughing.

“Come on,” Daryl stood up and straightened his jacket. “Let’s go help before your sister glares us to death.” He gestured in Maggie’s direction and held out his hand helping her to her feet.

She smiled at him as they walked together. “You don’t look that old.”

“Pff,” he rolled his eyes. “Thanks.”

“But you are technically old enough to be my dad.”

“And here I was gonna go out for a ride later, and see if you wanted to come,” he gave her a small glare.

“You were?” She nearly faltered in her steps. It had been so long.

“Yeah, was.” He gave her a look. “When you were being nice.”

“Oh come on. I was joking,” Beth swung in front of him with her hands on her hips.

Daryl had to stop at the Beth roadblock and shrugged his shoulders with a smirk. “Karen was asking about going out on a ride not too long ago, so I could always take her.”

She impressively did not make any sort of face at that. But neither of them moved.

Maggie huffed and looked to Glenn. “What the hell are those two doin’ now?” 

Michonne walked by them with a loud sigh. “Here we go again.” Daryl and Beth cringed simultaneously. 

“Here what goes again?” Glenn asked bewildered.

“I..um,” Beth frantically glanced around. “Got some stuff.” 

“Yeah, I’ve …things,” Daryl said quickly.

 

They both realized what they said was ridiculous and made no sense, but took off in opposite directions. Leaving Glenn and Maggie confused.

“Did I miss something?” Glenn asked. “I always feel like I’m missing something.”

 

The end.


End file.
